The Haruchi Maki Chronicles
by TheUn-POP-ableBubble
Summary: Sakura's gone missing and Sasuke and Naruto are determined to bring her back home. On their mission they encounter an unexpected character who may just hold the key to Sakura's disappearance - and to her present whereabouts.
1. Vanishing in the Sand

**Author's Note: **Hi guys! I was traveling on the ever popular road of life and I suddenly got ambushed by sudden inspiration towards a little idea that's been playing around in my head! Needless to say, I lost the fight and began to write until I had a whole prologue chapter completed! Yay me! ^^ Anyway, I would LOVE to hear what you guys have to say about this idea for a story. I personally wonder if there are already too many stories similar to this one out there but that fear didn't stop me from posting! Please feel free to reward my bravery with reviews!!

**Disclaimer: **I'm almost afraid that super awesome ninja will kill me in my sleep if I untruthfully claim Naruto as my own so I'll play it safe and honestly say that I own nothing except this plotline! I swear that I didn't steal it from another FanFiction author!

* * *

**Chapter One: Vanishing in the Sand**

* * *

**Name: Sakura Haruno**

* * *

The Kage's office was quiet as per usual. It was a simple room with a large wooden desk that was burdened with very few stacks of unfinished paperwork. The desk's accompanying chair was not exactly comfortable but sufficed its master's needs when he was required to work in the room for hours on end. The couple of potted plants in the circular room were positioned so that they were constantly under the sun's warm rays and a rack of books, texts and scrolls took up a much of a single wall space.

The Kage himself was standing by the window and letting his gaze fall out the glass and land on his village – the village he had sworn to protect no matter what. But he wasn't seeing the people stroll happily down the streets or the children playing ninja in the alleys or the shinobi lounging on the many rooftops. Instead, he was searching for a specific person; a person most often donned in black and who always carried his pride and joy on his back.

'_There.' _he thought as he caught his target languidly walking towards the office to answer his summons. While slightly irked at the man's choice of pace the bright-haired Kage calmed himself with a quiet sigh and an uncharacteristic gesture of running a hand through his short spiked hair. The young man closed his eyes to wait as the summoned ninja disappeared through the doors of the tower. It would only be a matter of time before the ninja stepped through the wooden door to his office.

As expected, the door to the simple office opened and let in a tall shinobi, dressed all in black. He stood with both hands lazily on his waist as his body rested its weight on the heels of his feet – the posture of someone who was interested in what you had to say but trying not to appear too eager. His eyes also attempted to look dull and bored but there was a gleam of intrigue in them that only his brother was able to see.

"Kankuro. I'm glad you're here; this is important."

The ninja nodded, "I figured as much - you _are_ calling me in on my day off after all. So, what's up Gaara?"

"It concerns the Leaf Village; more specifically one of their top medical ninjas, Sakura Haruno." Gaara observed carefully as he took note of Kankuro's widened eyes and more serious nature. All of his brother's previous laziness was gone – the name of the medic who had saved his life more than once snapping him to taut attention.

"What about her?"

Gaara leaned over his desk and skimmed his eyes over the message scroll that Tsunade had sent a few days previous, making sure that the facts he had memorized were accurate. "Six days ago Sakura Haruno accepted a mission that I requested of the Leaf. She was to travel here, analyze our medical resources and restock any materials or remedies. She was then expected to stay here temporarily to head a training program for many of our aspiring medics. She left her village gates four days ago."

Kankuro frowned. "Four days? Shouldn't she _be_ here by now?"

Gaara nodded. "She should. In fact, I had expected her to arrive within two days after her departure from the Leaf."

Kankuro gave a definite nod. He knew this was serious and that it was very possible that something had gone wrong during Sakura's journey. The puppet master eyed his little brother and asked, "So what do you want me to do about it?"

Gaara made sure to meet Kankuro's eyes directly. "I want you to organize a small team of three others and search for any trace of her. I want reports immediately if you find anything that would give us any intel on her whereabouts."

"You got it." Kankuro headed for the door but turned around just before he left the office. "Hey Gaara? Does Leaf know anything?"

Gaara sighed and lowered his uniquely colored eyes. "No. And I will not send any kind of message until I know exactly what has happened to her. There is no sense in having the Leaf panic and worry over something that has not occurred."

"And if we find something bad?"

"… Let us hope that it doesn't come to that."

"… Right."

The door shut and the simple office was left in silence once again.

_

* * *

_

Gaara, Kazekage of the Sand,

_You will be pleased to know that I have selected the Head Medical Ninja of the Konoha's Hospital – and my personal apprentice – Sakura Haruno to carry out the B-rank mission that you requested two weeks ago. She has accepted the mission with enthusiasm and is set to depart by sunrise tomorrow. I estimate you can expect her arrival in your village within forty-eight hours from that time. _

_Hoping you and your village are well,_

_Tsunade, Hokage of the Leaf_

* * *

Standing atop one of countless sand dunes found in his land Kankuro gazed out among the seemingly never-ending desert. Despite growing up in the Land of Wind he never could quite stand the sight of the endless sand beyond their village's walls. And now he only hated the sight that much more. Searching a bleak and empty desert – especially on one's own – for any sort clue on any person's whereabouts was next to impossible. Searching for a lost person in this land was about as frustrating and hopeless as sparring against Gaara. And the amount of paperwork involved was simply horrendous.

Kankuro had wasted no time in selecting a team to accompany him out to the barren desert. He had selected three very capable shinobi that had been assisted by Sakura at some point or other and hurriedly explained the situation to them. All three responded to the situation with distinct energy and determination to rescue the medic to whom they owed so much. Nearly a kilometer north from the village gates the team of four had split into four directions: north-west, north-east, south-east and south-west. The well known puppet master had already traveled and searched over five square kilometers in his direction but had not yet found any trace of the pink haired kunoichi.

Placing a hand to the radio on his neck and hoping that the others had had better luck Kankuro asked, "Tahiko, how are things in your direction?"

Minor static accompanied the male Jounin's response. "Nothing as far as I can tell. I've sent my scorpions ahead but none have reported back to me yet."

Kankuro had expected as much but that didn't keep him from gritting his teeth a little bit. He owed the missing kunoichi his life a few times over; he was not about to let her stay stranded in his own land – not when he could do something to help her. "That's good but keep looking. How 'bout you Matsuri?"

"The only thing I can see is an approaching sandstorm sir." Came the high voice of the young Chunin.

"Damn." he cursed, "We can't be out here when it hits; we need to wrap up this search and fast!"

"Right!!" came two responses. Kankuro waited patiently for the third from a Chunin named Kanne but after two minutes she still hadn't responded.

"Kanne? You there?"

Only static. Crap. Not now! Something could not go wrong _right now_!

"Kanne, if you can hear me please respond." When she still didn't respond Kankuro mentally cursed and addressed the other two. "Looks like we'll have to put the search on standby guys, Kanne isn't responding which means she's either dead or out of range of the radio and we need to find out which."

"But sir," Tahiko put in, "if we stop now the storm will wipe away any traces or clues that Miss Sakura may have left."

Kankuro growled at the dilemma. "I know but our teammate has to be our first priority! It won't do any good for us to lose another person to this desert."

"Yes sir. I'll keep my scorpions alert just in case."

"No need for that Tahiko!" All three ninjas showed surprise – and private signs of relief – as they heard their 'lost' teammate's voice over the radio. "I've found something that somewhat resembles a camp; it could've been Sakura's!"

Kankuro whirled around in surprise. It took everything he had to resist running in random directions until he found what Kanne was talking about. "What!? Where's your position?"

"About seven kilometers south-west of the rendezvous point. The camp is a little beyond that point and that's why I traveled of range of the radio."

Kankuro was running as soon as he heard his teammate's instructions and hurriedly ordered, "Kanne, you search the camp right now! Tahiko, Matsuri, follow Kanne's directions and meet up with me there!"

"Sir, yes sir!" the three voices rang out.

While he ran Kankuro thought of all the things he owed the pink haired medic. The most prominent one was the time his body had been infected with Sasori's poison and Sakura had found a curing remedy when no one else had. But she had also helped them on other occasions over the years: treating Temari when she came down with some kind of dangerous disease, saving his butt when he got in a tight spot during a minor war they were both involved in, taking on a medic training class the year before, sparing Gaara from having a leg amputated… There was so much she had done for him, his family and his village even though she was from Leaf. He had once almost thought of her as a sister since she had been around so often that year and he hadn't let down his family yet.

Kankuro concentrated his chakra and sped across the sand at twice his regular speed.

* * *

The Kazekage's office was still simple and still quiet when Kankuro reported back to his little brother. The small pile of unfinished paperwork had dwindled but was not much different from before. The sun was still shining through the windows and when you looked out you could see people hurrying inside to await the incoming storm of sand. Gaara appeared to be the only thing that changed. He was now sitting in his chair and leaning his arms on his desk – he was anxious to know what Kankuro had found.

Wordlessly Kankuro fished out three cloths from his weapon's pouch and laid them on the desk in front of Gaara's piercing green eyes. Gaara picked up and inspected the red cloth in his hands, choosing to ignore the pair of gloves that his brother had placed on the table. He gently ran his hand along the metal insignia that represented the pride of the Leaf with a subtle kind of sorrow. The two brothers knew that she would be dead before she was separated from her precious headband. They recalled how she had once told them the significance it had held for her; the way it proved she was a true shinobi – that she was strong. How it told the world that she had grown into a respectable woman and how she treated it as a piece of her village when she was away from home. Her headband was more than a head accessory – it was everything she had ever dreamed and accomplished.

Taking care to fold it before placing the head gear back on his desk Gaara inquired, "Is this all that you found?"

"We think we found her campsite – or what was left of it anyway. A lot of her possessions were lost under layers of sand already; when we dug these were among the first of the items we found." He referred to the headband and gloves.

Gaara continued to question his brother even as he stood to obtain a blank scroll. "What else did you uncover?"

Kankuro gripped his fists in frustration. He couldn't help but feel that he had failed both Sakura and his little brother. "Just regular survival equipment – matches, medicines, kunai, a sleeping bag – nothing extraordinary. Things were in wacky places though, which suggests that there may have been a struggle but we won't ever know for sure."

Gaara nodded as he contemplated all of Kankuro's information. He was still unsure of what he would write in his letter to Tsunade. "Was there any trace of her body? Any trail that indicated she went somewhere?"

Kankuro shook his head in a regretful manner. "Nothing. Any footprints she would've left behind are long gone thanks to the ridiculous wind in this country. Tahiko even had his scorpions bury through the sand – there's no blood to indicate that a human traveled anywhere. Or at least not one that was injured."

A few moments of silence passed between the two siblings. They were both attempting to piece the whole situation together. The two men knew Sakura well enough to know that she would not leave her headband lying around just anywhere which means that she must have been forced to leave it behind. But Tahiko's scorpions were among the most reliable trackers in Sand. If they couldn't find a trace of Sakura's blood then she couldn't have been wounded any sort of struggle that possibly occurred. Of course there was always the possibility that she had been drugged or paralyzed somehow but the enemy would have had to be in fairly close proximity to inject her with anything and both Sand shinobi knew from experience that it was not easy to get close to Sakura without being punched into the next week. And she probably had some sort of antidote in her possession even if the enemy did manage to poison her with a type of drug. So what had happened to her and where had she gone?

Swallowing quietly in the silence, Gaara stated "So she's vanished."

Even as Kankuro nodded and voiced his bitter agreement he couldn't help but feel like he was missing something crucial. He felt as if he was looking in the wrong place for the answer to the mystery. But if the answer wasn't Sakura's capture, what was?

* * *

The Kage's office was a pleasant one. It occupied little space and the furniture inside it occupied even less. For being such a small room, the lack of furniture and large windows gave it a wider, more welcoming view. The windows were always open to the outdoors no matter the weather and the door was always open to her village's people no matter the issue. The large desk and accompanying chair sat near the windows, for she often liked to look upon her people going about their every day lives. It reminded her why she kept working a stressing job such as hers; reminded her that good things still existed in this world. Her people gave her hope when calamity struck and she felt almost indebted to repay the favor by protecting them with all she had left in her.

But, as she procured a bottle of well aged sake and a reasonably sized drinking cup from a desk drawer, Tsunade wished that it would not hurt so much whenever she failed them. She also wished for her hands to stop shaking – they were making her spill perfectly good sake on the letter from Gaara that she had only received minutes ago. She had opened it expecting to read a standard letter explaining that her beloved apprentice had reached the village safe and sound – she had desperately hoped to hear so since she had not received any kind of confirmation from either Gaara or Sakura four days after the young woman had left the gates. Tsunade admitted that she had been as worried as a mother would be for a sick daughter before she unraveled the scroll and absorbed the information it held.

_Tsunade, Hokage of the Leaf,_

_It is with deep regret that I inform you that Sakura Haruno has, as of yet, not passed our village borders. After receiving your letter I grew concerned when she did not appear within the following ninety-six hours, and sent a search team out to look for her. They recovered ninja survival equipment from what we suspect to have been her camp – along with her shinobi head band – but they discovered no trace of Sakura herself. I have my people investigating further but the only thing that we know for certain is that Sakura Haruno is missing._

_I'm sorry that I cannot offer you any solace except to keep you informed on anything and everything that my people discover._

_Gaara, Kazekage of the Sand_

Needless to say, she had already started to reach for her special drawer when she was half way through the letter.

* * *

**Current Status: MIA**


	2. A Camp in the Woods

**Author's Note:** So this story didn't get as big a response as I expected. No big! ^^ I'm actually having fun writing for a very small audience! (This audience mostly includes myself and my two lovely reviewers but hey, an audience is an audience.) Anyway, there are outfits mentioned in this chap and the links to pictures of these can be found on my Profile Page. Hope you enjoy the story!

**Chapter Dedication: **Dedicated to my only two reviewers for this story: **Twisted Musalih** and **XxXTigerstarzXxX**. Thank you both for your positive support! I hope I don't disappoint.

**Disclaimer:** I am sad to say that I do not own Naruto but it's on my Christmas List!

* * *

**Chapter Two: A Camp in the Woods**

**Name: Sasuke Uchiha**

* * *

The young woman laid back and relaxed against a tree, bored of tending the small fire that she had made. A sigh escaped her lips as she wished with all her might and soul for a deck of cards. Then at least her boredom would escape her. There was only so much meditating that a girl could do for hours on end; especially when one possessed a low level of patience. She let out a pathetic chuckle at the thought, as if sharing a personal joke with someone who was not there.

'_I did have a higher level of patience before.' _She reminisced. _'But I guess the life of a bandit changes people.'_

Jet black eyes peered through strands of forest green to catch the sight of a young man resting beside a near-by tree. She remembered him as the one from last night. He was at one of the town's many bars surprisingly – or perhaps not so surprisingly – at the same time she was. She only ever spent half an hour at any bar in any town so as to avoid meeting and/or making familiar faces. She wanted to keep her profile on the down-low for the time being and she didn't need any acquaintances making that task more difficult than neccessary. Unfortunately, she had already gained a name for herself over her past few weeks of thievery– she always had been quick to make an impression – and was well known throughout many a curious ear. According to the few rumors she heard about herself, she was the one with all the answers; she got around often and listened at all the right doors; she knew the ins and outs of all the important places and high-ranked people. Word on the street was, if you needed information you paid a visit to her. Haruchi Maki couldn't help but smirk with pride when she heard what her fellow law-breakers said about her – mostly because it was all true.

The man stirred in his sleep but did not wake. Haruchi took a minute to examine him in the early morning light. From the dim lights of last night's bar she knew his hair was dark but even in the sunlight it seemed to be made of shadows. His attire was compromised of white pants that contrasted well against his dark ninja sandals, a black fishnet shirt and a high-collared, open, dark blue jounin vest with a red and white fan insignia stitched on the back. A simple purple rope acted as a belt that held his favored Kusanagi sword to his back and bandages wrapped over both his forearms. It was very fashionable and also easy to move in; simple and serious. Hers was similar in terms of simplicity and mobility. Her plain ninja sandals were worn with her olive green cargo pants and a red sash circled her pretty waist. She wore a fishnet shirt under a sleeveless, loose, black turtleneck that ended just under her ribcage and wore a set of green bands around her wrists.

Another flinch of the ninja brought Haruchi out of her comparison and drew her attention towards him.

'_About time he woke.' _She thought with annoyance. Honestly, she had gone to such lengths to capture him alive and he repaid her by sleeping off a ridiculous hangover. Haruchi grumbled to herself as she lay back against the tree and rested her eyes; she supposed that it was just the way men operated – even men as talented as he.

Haruchi didn't give any reaction as she felt the kunai blade press against her neck. She was quite used to death threats and these kinds of situations.

"Where am I?"

'_Ooh, he growled.' _She thought amusedly. _"He's a grumpy, grumpy boy this morning!"_

The blade pressed more firmly against her neck and the voice asked again.

"Where am I?"

"If you kill me, you never find out." Haruchi retorted smoothly. Sasuke seethed. It was as if she had been put in these situations before and knew exactly how to deal with them. Despite his frustration he tore the weapon away and backed away from the stranger but made sure to keep his glare directed at her face. This, too, seemed to unfaze her.

Her offering him a breakfast of bread and wild berries however, greatly fazed him and he declined. He didn't remember venturing off with her willingly so assumed he was brought here against his will. Sasuke Uchiha was not a happy camper when he was kidnapped – especially by a female. While Sasuke was not foolish enough to underestimate a kunoichi, it stung his ego to see that he had been overpowered by one other than Sakura. He had deemed long ago that Sakura was one of very few kunoichi who could keep up with him in a spar and to meet another kunoichi who could hold her own against him was not a joyful revelation.

'_But Sakura's missing now,' _He clenched his fists tight and grit his teeth at the thought, _'and I need to find her – I need to stay focused on the mission!'_

"Are you sure that you don't want this?" the girl taunted by shoving a handful of food in Sasuke's direction. "It'll help your aching head~!" she sang.

Sasuke glared – just what kind of psycho was he stuck with? – but grabbed the food she offered him. He was hungry after all, and if he wanted to move elsewhere he needed to be energized and clear-headed. If eating a few of her berries would do that, then so be it.

"Good boy!" She cheered when he swallowed his food.

Sasuke inwardly sighed. Perhaps she was a little crazy but she didn't seem to be hostile. He _had_ been free of any bindings when he woke up and she didn't seem the kind to want to cause any harm. Not this girl with choppy green hair that fell to her shoulder blades and three scars that ran across her right cheek and black eyes that rivaled his own. No, Sasuke decided as he watched her put out the camp fire, she did not appear to be an immediate threat.

Calmer now that he had eaten and gathered his thoughts on his situation, Sasuke tried to pry for information. "Where are we?"

Haruchi jumped at the question and turned to Sasuke. She seemed surprised that he had talked at all; even more so that it was a politely asked question. But after a second she pouted at him and replied, "Not gonna ask my name first?"

Sasuke breathed, prayed for patience and repeated his question, "Where are we?"

The girl sighed, "You're no fun at all with interrogation. But we're in a small forest; just a few kilometers east of the nearest village."

"How did I get here?"

She giggled and bounced on her feet while she exclaimed, "I kidnapped you silly!"

Sasuke stiffened. He had just gotten comfortable with the idea that she was harmless. Although, he still found it hard to take her seriously when she was acting so childishly right in front of him. She looked as though she were a six year old who had just received her most wanted birthday present.

Her black eyes shone with mischief. "You don't believe me?"

Frankly? "No."

She shook her head and wagged her finger at him. "Now Sasuke, it isn't polite to underestimate me so early on in the game!"

Sasuke held a hand to his head in an attempt to ward off the oncoming headache. Why did this girl have to be so… _annoying_? A sharp pain entered his being at the thought. He remembered a young girl with hair like flower petals and eyes like tree leaves. Once upon a time, he had called her annoying as well.

'_Sakura…'_ Sasuke became silent then. In thoughts and in words, all was quiet for the powerful shinobi.

"'Ey!" snapped the voice of his companion. "That's quite enough of that Uchiha! Geez, is your clan known for brooding and feeling sorry for themselves?"

He didn't even have the heart to glare at the jab to his family name. To be honest, he hadn't had the heart to do anything much since Sakura had gone missing – except for this mission that Tsunade had sent them on less than three days ago. The goal was to learn what had happened to make her disappear and, if possible, bring her home alive and safe. After learning that she had been missing for days already, both Sasuke and Naruto were determined to complete this mission successfully. But damn it all! Neither of them knew where they could even begin to start their search! Sand had already conducted searches of their own country and even if they found traces of Sakura's whereabouts, it was a slim chance that she was still in Sand now. She had probably moved, willingly or not, and so Naruto and Sasuke had decided to start their search by gathering any possible intel from any person who could possibly have information in the minor towns around the Fire County. Their searches had led them to a single name: Haruchi Maki.

According to other renegades, she was fairly new to the life of a bandit as her family had recently been destroyed in a civil war. She was one of few Maki survivors and abandoned what remained of her clan to fend for herself. Surprisingly, she had adapted quickly to her wild lifestyle and rose quickly through the ranks and, within a couple of months she was among the most feared and well-known of the rouge community. Rumors and tales told about her fierce prowess and incredible stealth. Word on the street was that she was a sucker for gossip and was fabulous at listening behind all the right doors. There wasn't a human alive who knew more than Haruchi Maki. And perhaps it was a long shot but both males of Team 7 decided to see if this Haruchi knew anything about their teammate and so, the two had split up in the last town in hopes of finding and questioning the bandit.

Haruchi cocked her head when she was denied a response from her earlier jab.

'_Goodness, who kicked _his_ puppy this morning?'_

"Sasuke?"

No response.

"Oh Saaaasuke??"

Still no response. He was too busy planning on how he was going to find the target and wondering where Naruto was.

"Sasu-cakes?"

"…"

"Meh, worth a try."

"…"

"**Oi!! Uchiha!!**" a flick to his forehead rewarded Haruchi his attention and his famous glare. "Finally. I was starting to worry that you had died on me or something."

He scoffed and directed his gaze away from her face. It was shaped too similarly to hers.

"What do you want?"

Normally, she would have rocked back on her heels and squealed when a man asked her that question but she was worried for the ninja in front of her. He _had_ just spaced out in front of her for about ten minutes and he had looked very depressed while doing it. Maybe he was sick?

"Just wanted to make sure that you were alive."

"Hn. Why do you care?"

"I can't have people hearing that Thee Great Haruchi Maki kidnapped a dead corpse!"

Black eyes widened. _She _was Haruchi Maki!?! This annoying _girl_!?!

"Oh wait. I guess there's no such thing as a_ live_ corpse which means that there can't be a _dead_ corpse either…" Her eyes were scrunched in concentration as she tried to work out her newest logic. Sasuke was just short of gawking at her. How could _this_ be the girl who survived a calamity and came out of it as one of the most successful bandits who ever existed? "But technically a corpse _is_ dead so it _could_ be described as a dead corpse couldn't it? Hmm…"

Sasuke shook his head back and forth in disbelief. There was no way that she could be the 'Bandit of Legend' – it was what other rouges had called her because of her unheard of talent. Some said that she was secretly trained as a kunoichi because there was doubt that a regular civilian girl could be so good at a life of thievery. But those people were few and far between as the story of Haruchi Maki being trained in the way of the ninja was less exciting and less impressive than the story of a regular girl forced to face her destiny through disaster.

"What do you think Sasuke?"

Before he could hide it, Haruchi saw his baffled expression and grinned like the Cheshire cat.

"What's wrong? Don't believe I'm who I say I am?" Sasuke was careful to mask his expression this time but his blank face still gave Haruchi her answer. "It's okay if you don't. Not many people do believe me. They envision this almighty hero with ripped muscles and rays of light shining out from behind her." Haruchi gave a shallow laugh and shook her head in an almost regretful manner. "You can't imagine their disappointment when they realize that _I'm_ all there is to the great 'Bandit of Legend' – oh, I hear the rumors. After all, I'm the one with all the answers, right?" She fell silent after her mini pity-party and watched Sasuke to see what his next question would be.

"Why did you kidnap me?"

Haruchi doubled over laughing. For knowing as much as she did of Sasuke Uchiha, he sure was unpredictable – and a little unpractical. Trying to calm her hysteric fit, Haruchi settled herself to sit beside Sasuke and attempted to stifle her remaining giggles behind a hand. Sasuke wanted to shift away from her but that would show that he was uncomfortable and therefore, nervous, which meant that he was not in control of the situation. And Uchiha's were _always_ in control. End of discussion.

Once Haruchi had finally calmed her giggling fit she shot a small smirk towards the Uchiha heir and answered his previous question.

"I wanted to see how much you know about me."

And before he could protest or make any further comments, her hands were placed on both sides of his scalp and her chakra was crawling into his memories.

Countless events of Sasuke's life flashed before both party's eyes and within seconds of probing his memory bank, Haruchi confirmed that he knew only what others knew. Without thinking, she murmured "Good." She was unaware that Sasuke caught her comment – even through the flurry of images and emotions he was experiencing.

Both Haruchi and Sasuke gasped for air as the bandit ripped her hands away from him. It was as if both were held under water for longer than they would've liked.

Sasuke was the first to catch all of his breath. "What the _hell_ was _that_?!"

Haruchi shot him a bright grin – one that a child would give a parent when asked who stole the cookie from the cookie jar. "_That_ was my Memory Convention!"

"Memory Convention?"

"It's a specialized technique that I developed allllll by myself!" Her tone gave the distinct subtext of 'Aren't you proud of me Daddy?' Sasuke was not amused but Haruchi continued to elaborate. "I delve into your memories and see what you saw and feel what you felt! It's how I was able to become such an awesome bandit in such a short time; I looked into the memories of more experienced people and learnt from them!"

Something clicked in Sasuke's head – something that he felt the girl was hoping he would discover. "And it's also how you collect the amount of information that you do."

Haruchi bounced in her seat and clapped her hands together. She looked extremely ecstatic. "Uh-huh, uh-huh!! I make sure to look at anyone who looks suspicious or important and I gain _tons _of info on _bunches_ of stuff!"

Suddenly remembering his mission's purpose Sasuke proceeded to say. "Then maybe you can help me; I'm looking for someone."

Haruchi's eyes lit up so fast that even Lee wouldn't have known what had happened.

"Of course I can help! I know _everything_ about anything that's happening in the Fire Country! Who're you looking for?"

"Her name is Sakura Haruno."

"Why are you looking for her? Is she a friend of yours?"

Sasuke was about to answer 'No' Sakura was not a friend. But something in Haruchi's expression stopped him from answering straight away. Her eyes had become intelligent looking again and they were peering at him closely as if imploring him to _really _think about his answer. So he did.

_Was_ Sakura his friend? Sasuke's original response had been no but was that because the denial had been rooted in truth or was he just so used to denying any kind of relationship he held with other people? Sasuke took a moment to think of all the times Sakura had been there for him: in the Forest of Death, against Gaara, in the Land of Tea, after he came back to the village, through the quiet times of his probation. Were those things a friend would do? The obvious answer was yes. But did _Sasuke _see _Sakura_ as a friend of his?

"No. She's not."

Haruchi nodded and thought for a little bit. Then she put on a mischievous grin and asked the next most obvious question. "So she's your girlfriend then."

Sasuke glared and sharply replied, "Not likely."

"Well that's _boring_!" Haruchi pouted. "But if she's not your girlfriend and not even your friend, why are you looking for her?"

"She's…" Sasuke struggled to find the right word to describe his pink-haired teammate. All he could think of was her name. Because that, essentially, was what she was: Sakura.

"Pretty?"

"No."

"Gorgeous?"

"No."

"The long, lost love of your life?"

"_No._"

Haruchi made a wild gesture with her arms and huffed out in an exasperated voice, "Well, what is she then?"

"Important."

The word passed Sasuke's lips before he could stop to think about it. Haruchi paused. And then burst out laughing again. Her past impression of the Uchiha didn't change in the slightest. In fact, she only began to carve it into stone: The Great Sasuke Uchiha was most_ definitely_ unpredictable – even _he _didn't know what he'd do sometimes.

"If you're finished laughing over your private joke, I'd like to hear about any information that you know about her."

Wiping a tear from her eye Haruchi struggled to gasp out, "Sakura Haruno huh? Well, the last I heard of her, she was long gone!"

And once she saw an expression akin to disbelieving horror etched onto Sasuke's face, Haruchi Maki, the 'Bandit of Legend', burst out into a new round of hysterical laughter.

* * *

**Current Status: Kidnapped**

* * *


	3. All Over the Place

**Author's Note: **I'm not getting as large a response as I had hoped for this story. Luckily for the few people who read this fic I've fallen in love with it! ^^ I really do love this story - it's my favorite idea that I've come up with yet. Of course, I had to change it because a certain someone - who I've dedicated this chapter to - figured out my evil plot. Sadface. But no worries! Because she forced me to change the plotline, it's a lot more original and I like it even better than my first idea. Happyface. So I will continue with this story because I love it so much but because of that The Life of the Child will probably be put on hold. Sorry readers!

Anyway, you guys may get confused in this chapter and things will probably not make sense - especially since it's so short X( . The events will explain themselves in either the next chapter or the one after that. So be patient and keep supporting me! ^^

Oh yes, and there is a link to a picture of Naruto's Outfit on my Profile Page.

**Chapter Dedication: **Thank you Sakura's Indecision for being my one and only reviewer for Chapter Two and for also rearranging my story so that it became that much better. ^^ Thanks for also reviewing other stories of mine. I'm hoping you become a fan of this story!

**Disclaimer: **Even though I've just had my birthday, I am no closer to owning Naruto than I was the year before.

* * *

**Chapter Three: All Over the Place**

**Name: Sasuke Uchiha**

Sasuke made sure to be consciously aware of clenching and unclenching his fists. The awareness kept his mind occupied and distracted from what Haruchi had just revealed to him. He wasn't even sure why he thought to believe what she had said; she was a bandit after all – a banished renegade. Why did he automatically assume that what she had said was the truth?

'_Because Sakura never lies.' _was the only answer his mind provided. But that was absurd. It was Haruchi who had spoken to him, not Sakura! But why did his brain act as though the two were one and the same? Was it because Haruchi had a similar look? Sasuke quickly dismissed the idea. The shape of her face and her hair style were the only things that she matched Sakura for in appearance. As for personality…

Sasuke had never remembered a time when Sakura was as childish as Haruchi. Sakura had always had a rather mature and confident air around her, one that told people that she held authority. Haruchi was nearly an exact opposite. She possessed a very _im_mature nature and seemed like one to make a game out of everything – she struck Sasuke as the kind of person who would follow anyone that she liked without question and with a goofy grin on her face. But she stood with a confident posture too, as though she'd let you hold the reigns until she believed you incapable of leading her.

'_Yes,' _Sasuke thought, _'she gives the impression that she could do very well without social interaction but she wouldn't shy away from companionship either.'_

So perhaps it was the confidence that she put into her words that made the Uchiha believe her so readily. Or perhaps he was still recovering from the shock of finding himself in this situation and wasn't thinking straight. No matter the reason, he wasn't able to make sense of his mind's chaos before Haruchi decided to pick up conversation again.

"Got cha!!" she teased.

Sasuke whipped his gaze from his fists to the girl's face. She had a stupid looking grin on her face that reminded him of the ones he had seen Naruto wear. What was with this girl's issue with looking like his teammates??

"_What?_" he hissed. He was not exactly in a right state of mind and had no problems making sure that the pest was aware of the fact. 'The pest' seemed to have no problems elaborating her earlier statement.

"You thought I meant that she was dead didn't you? Silly Sasu-cakes!" She shook her head and her one finger at him, as though she were scolding a small child. "I only meant that she left the Fire Country!"

And even though he hated to admit it, Sasuke's emotions swung from relief, to despair, then to fury and finally to exhaustion. It was tiring to keep up with the mood swings that the Maki was putting him through. Suddenly, all Sasuke wanted to do was rest and take a break from interrogation. His hangover was still a light throb and he wasn't energized enough to put up with Haruchi's fickle games. Apparently, the 'pest' realized his sudden change of will and patted down his hair with a light smile.

"Have a good nap Sasuke Uchiha. I'll see you when the berry's effects wear off." Tch. So she had practically drugged him when she offered food earlier. Why did that sound so typical?

Sasuke's last thought before surrendering to sleep was, _'Funny. I never thought I'd meet anyone as draining as the dobe.'_

**Current Status: Resting**

* * *

**Name: Sakura Haruno**

Emerald colored eyes opened to nothing. For a moment, the kunoichi panicked over the possibility of her being blind.

"You're eyes work just fine." A voice reassured her. It sounded feminine – and familiar.

Unsatisfied with the answer but comforted that she wasn't alone, Sakura took note of whatever she could. There was a light scraping sound – like two stones rubbing against each other – resonating around her. She was sitting in an upright position and it felt like she was leaning against a cold, damp wall of rock. Perhaps they were in a cave; at least that would explain why she couldn't see. Sakura opened her mouth to ask the familiar-stranger about it but quickly aborted that idea as she became aware of a piercing pain behind her head and a throbbing sensation almost everywhere else. She let out a gasp to release the pain and gently relaxed against the rock wall – it helped ease the pain a little bit.

"You were hit pretty badly when it caved in; you shouldn't move around too much."

Sakura concentrated on breathing deeply. "Yeah, I figured as much."

The scraping sound stopped. "You're awake?"

Sakura raised a brow in confusion. Who was her companion talking to if not her?

"Uh… Yeah."

"Oh. I must have sounded really weird; talking to myself like that." Sakura decided to withhold the secret that she had actually been impressed that Naruto could practically read her thoughts in the dark. "I was actually practicing what to say when you woke up. I wanted to sound cool. Waste of time I guess, now that you found me out."

"Uh-huh…" Sakura was starting to question how she ever came to be in the company of this person. They seemed rather insane.

"Well, anyway, now that you're up, wanna play Twenty Questions?"

"Huh??" Try as she might, Sakura could not hold in her bafflement of this person's behaviour.

"The alternative is sitting in the dark and grumbling about how sore you are. Besides, you must be curious about what happened right? I doubt that you can remember much with that cut on your head."

Sakura gently fingered her skull and hissed when she found the wound her companion was talking about. The 'cut' seemed more like a deep gash to her. Sakura would've liked to heal it then and there but there were a few things stopping her; such as a low level of chakra. Besides, it might be best to learn how and when she got this injury before she tried any healing. It could be infected if it had been left unattended for some time.

"You make a good argument." A light chuckle was heard before Sakura continued. "So who goes first?"

"How 'bout we alternate and take turns asking questions? That way, if anything comes up, you can ask me a new question right away."

"Sounds fair. You wanna start?"

"Unless you want to."

Sakura thought it over. "Nah, you go. I'm sure you've had more time to think up of questions to ask anyway."

The voice scoffed. "I doubt it. You probably had a million questions run through your head when you first woke up. Anyway, my first question is… What is your favorite color?"

Sakura laughed. "That's not very original!"

She didn't rule out the possibility that she was delusional, but Sakura was almost sure that her 'friend' had smiled. "Doesn't matter, it's still my first question. Besides, it not unoriginal; it's a classic."

Sakura giggled again and briefly wondered why she was so comfortable in this person's presence. Maybe this person wasn't a threat to her after all. Or the gash to her head was causing brain damage. Sakura preferred the idea of the first option.

"Whatever you say. And I guess I'd say red."

"That's not very original!" Naruto's voice teased and Sakura couldn't help but laugh again.

"Yeah, yeah. But an unoriginal question deserves an unoriginal answer right? Anyway, my first question will be… What's your name?" Sakura only now realized that she did not have a name to attach to the feminine voice that kept her company and made her laugh. She had previously been referring to the voice as Naruto's despite the obvious difference in gender. Maybe the gash in her head affected her more than she'd be comfortable admitting.

"I'm Haruchi. Do you have any siblings?"

Sakura, in her victory of gaining a name, forgot that she was in blinding darkness and shook her head no before she realized her mistake.

"Nope, I'm the only child. What's your last name Haruchi?"

"It's Maki. Are your parents dead or alive?"

"Haruchi Maki huh? That's a pretty name; I like how it sounds. And both of my parents are alive." Sakura couldn't be sure if she heard Haruchi mutter, 'Lucky' or not but decided to play it safe and strayed away from the topic of parents.

"So… Where are we anyway?"

"Some cave or other. Do you like nighttime or daytime?"

"Mmm… nighttime but I prefer dawn over both of them. Do you know what country we're in?"

"I'm pretty sure we're somewhere in Earth County."

Sakura groaned and fell further back against the rock. Earth's border was at least a five day trip from the Sand Village and she didn't know how deep she was into the country. She was sure to be overdue for her mission; Leaf had probably already sent out a search team to look for her in the Wind County. Her absence of a known location was sure to complicate things but she had faith in her fellow shinobi to find her and bring her home. She just had to be patient and remain calm.

"So why do you like the dawn?"

"It's the only time that I get to myself since I spend the day working at the hospital and the night resting for more work. But nothing happens in the early morning; it's just me and the world and nothing else."

"And you like being alone with the world?"

Sakura wasn't sure if she imagined the cold sting that was embedded in Haruchi's question but her gut feeling was telling her that she was stepping into dangerous territory. She was often good at following her gut instincts, which usually turned out to be right, but this time Sakura found herself to be too curious to resist prying a little bit.

"… Sometimes it's nice."

"And you desire 'nice' things?"

Sakura shrugged in the darkness. "As much as any other person does."

"Then why have you been shying away from your teammates." Haruchi hissed. Sakura was first shocked to find that the question was said as a statement but was then shocked again as she realized what had been asked.

"Wha… What did you say?"

"I asked you," and even in the dark Sakura could feel the piercing glare of the cold, onyx eyes, "why you've been avoiding your partners."

Panicking and shaking her head, Sakura protested, "I haven't been avoiding you Sasuke!"

Sakura gasped as she realized what she had said but her trained ears heard no sign of surprise come from Haruchi's direction. In fact, it only made Sakura confused when she heard Haruchi sigh in what sounded like disappointment.

"You should sleep; your wound must be affecting your skills in recognition. We'll continue our game after you wake up again."

Sakura was about to argue when her wound throbbed again. Perhaps it _would_ be a good idea to rest a while. She certainly couldn't handle any more surprises like Haruchi's cold questions.

So, yawning, Sakura agreed to rest. "That sounds good. But I have one last question: what time is it?"

Drowsing off, Sakura heard a soft sound of laughter before a reply was given.

"There's no way to know Sakura."

Her last conscious thought before she dozed off was, _'I don't remember telling her my name…'_

**Current Status: Injured and Trapped**

* * *

**Name: Naruto Uzumaki**

Two more empty shot glasses were slammed down on the already-crowded table. Hoots and hollers sounded throughout the popular bar as the numerous customers shouted encouragement towards their favorite participant while orbs of stunning blue and black collided and sent waves of tension throughout the competitive air. Bets had already been placed long ago and the suspense was just killing their audience. Naruto smiled at the memory of the girl challenging him to a contest in the first place.

He had been leaning on the back two legs of his chair, both his feet atop the wooden table with his orange jounin vest tossed on the back of another seat. He had hoped to scrap up some information on Sakura and Sasuke if he could – the Uchiha had been lost since yesterday. Naruto wasn't ashamed to say that he was terrified for his friends but losing Sasuke so early on in their search was an unexpected x factor. Now that he had lost both of them, his resolve in his belief of bringing Team 7 home was beginning to lose it's strength.

But then the girl with green hair and black eyes sat down opposite from him and commented on his low behavior. They talked for a while and Naruto quickly found himself liking this person, whoever she was. She ordered drinks for the both of them and rounded up two shot glasses as well. Naruto's energy had returned at the prospect of a challenge and here they were – six shots down and growing in popularity.

"You're not bad at holding your alcohol." Black taunted.

"You're not all that great yourself." Blue shot back.

Green eyebrows rose in amusement at the barb and ignored the 'Ooh's coming from the surrounding crowd. The girl chuckled and picked up the next shot.

"You've got as much spunk as they say, Naruto Uzumaki."

"You know," the blonde said after they both downed their shot, "it's unfair that you know my name when I don't have a clue what yours is."

Haruchi Maki grinned and held up Shot Number Seven in response. "Beat me, and I'll tell you all that you want to know."

"All I want to know huh?" Naruto said as he fumbled for another shot. "And what kind of information would I find valuable?"

Haruchi grinned again and leaned across the table and whispered a secret, one that was only meant for him to hear.

"Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. You don't know where they are, do you? But I have a secret; _I do._"

His cerulean eyes widened considerably in shock and the girl just pulled away from his ear and held up her shot glass again – almost as if proposing a toast.

"Here's to your hopeful victory."

His eyes grew as cold and sharp as steel. He now had so much more riding on this little drinking contest than he did before. But he would make sure that he won and then he would find Sasuke and they would bring Sakura back home together. He would win… He had to.

So Naruto held his shot up to hers and put on a very serious face. "Too bad for you, seven's my lucky number."

The girl grinned again and Naruto could've sworn that her dark eyes gleamed with mischief and excitement. "Yeah? It's mine too."

And so the late-night contest continued.

**Current Status: Fighting**


	4. More Information

**Author's Note:**So a couple of things. **A)** A big thank you to all three of my lovely reviewers: Twisted Musalih, XxXTigerstarzXxX, and Sakura's Indecision. You guys really inspire me to write. :) **B)** I mapped it out and I have decided that this story will only be 7 chapters long, epilogue included. **C) **This is the longest chapter that I have written so far. It may also be the most dry for some of you. Not a lot happens here except the revelation of some background info. **D)** For those who are curious, coughcoughSakura'sIndecisioncough I'll mention that there are about three hints to revealing who Haruchi Maki really is. Those clues are: 1. What's her name? 2. There's a single number that's been given several mentions throughout my fic. What is it? 3. Who does she remind you of? **E)** Happy reading!

**Messages:**

**Twisted Musalih - **Thanks so much!! ^^ Hope you're enjoying the story!

**XxXTigerstarzXxX - **Even though I know this might be confusing, there wasn't much of a time difference between Haruchi's appearances with Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto. Those scenes were in chronological order, they were written in the order that they happened. Let's just say that Haruchi has a way of getting around. ;) Keep reading to find out more!

**Sakura's Indecision -** You're right about a couple of things and wrong on a few others. Yes, Sakura is seeing aspects of her teammates in Haruchi but she isn't seeing it because of one of Haruchi's mind jutsus. It'll explain itself later. Your thought about Haruchi being each person's "inner" was an interesting one and I hate to say it but you're a little warmer to the truth than I'd like to admit. :) However, Haruchi will be the way Team 7 works through their little issues. I'm also very glad to hear that you're enjoying the Current Status so much. I had only made a few of them deeper but because you commented on it, I've added more to them so that their not quite so vague but still kinda deep. Hopefully you'll like the change. ^^ Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! Your reviews are always a joy to read! ^^ Oh, and you are definitely helping me stay on track with this story!

**Chapter Dedication:**Dedicated to my three lovely, loyal reviewers: **Twisted Musalih, XxXTigerstarzXxX, Sakura's Indecision. **Thank you so much for all of your continued support!! ^^

**Disclaimer:**I've realized two things today: 1. there is someone out there who owns Naruto and 2. it's not me. ;)

* * *

**Chapter Four: More Information**

**Name: Naruto Uzumaki**

Laughter like the hum of a gentle breeze flowed into his ears. He allowed himself to be a little baffled, but only allowed it for a minute. There were more important things to discuss than his small victory; especially when he knew that this win would be meaningless unless he learned the whereabouts of both Sasuke _and_ Sakura. Until he had both of them safe and sound at home, any number of triumphs would amount to very little.

"I suppose I underestimated you Naruto Uzumaki." Haruchi managed to say through her giggles.

Naruto huffed. He wasn't in the mood to play any more games. Sakura had always told him that he could be a grumpy drunk but he didn't feel intoxicated at all. He knew the Kyuubi was already helping his body filter the alcohol out of his system. But that didn't mean he was patient.

"Just tell me what you know."

Haruchi chuckled once more before looking him in the eyes. She could tell that he was dead serious and his uncharacteristic expression forced her laughter to choke, freeze and die. Upon being looked at with such intensity, she immediately straightened her posture.

"I have been caring for the Uchiha in my camp, in the woods to the west."

"Show me."

Shrugging her shoulders, Haruchi exited the bar and took the rooftops with the Uzumaki right behind her.

She took him as far as the town's outskirts before she stopped in her travel. A frustrated Naruto stopped with her.

"Why are we stopping?"

The girl looked over her right shoulder at him and he was stuck at the familiarity of the stance. How many times had seen that posture when he'd call out to a head of pink in the busy crowd of Konoha? Enough for it to hurt, he concluded.

Haruchi gave him a small smile. "I have somewhere I need to be but if you keep going in this general direction, you'll find the man you seek."

"And what about Sakura?"

Haruchi's laughed chimed a little too similarly to Sakura's. "You'll figure it out when you're ready to head out for her; first, you need to find Sasuke."

She was already gone by the time he thought to question her further

**Current Status: Winning Step by Step**

* * *

**Name: Sakura Haruno**

"Five-four for me. It's your turn."

Groggy green eyes opened to pure black at the sound of Haruchi's voice.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura took note that her voice sounded a little hoarse; just how long had she been asleep?

"Our game of Twenty Questions; it's your question."

A groan rumbled throughout the cavern. "Do we have to get up to twenty?"

Haruchi giggled at the complaint. "Not if you don't want to. I'd understand – with your head and all."

"No, it's fine, I don't mind playing. I just don't want to keep a scoreboard or anything like that."

A small pause ensued before a 'Sure thing' came from some forward direction. It was still damn dark in the cave.

"Have I been sleeping for long?"

"'Bout three hours or so. Didja have a nice nap?" Haruchi teased.

Sakura had to chuckle. "I've had worse, that's for sure."

"That's always good to hear."

Sakura put a hand to her head and was surprised to feel the soft, cotton texture of bandages. Her wound had been dressed sometime in her sleep.

"How'd you dress my injury??" Sakura found it hard to believe that Haruchi had night-vision.

"I explored a bit, found a dry piece of wood and lit it with a fire jutsu. There was a bunch of blood so I thought it'd be best to wrap it up with the bandages in your pack. I was lucky too; the wood burned out just as I was tying the knot."

Even though she couldn't see it, Sakura could tell by touch alone that Haruchi had done an excellent job in securing the wraps around her head. It made her wonder if Haruchi had any training as a medic.

"Now come on," Haruchi prodded, "it's your turn. Ask me a question already."

"Fine then. Um… How old are you?"

"Seventeen. You?"

"Nineteen. When's your birthday?"

"Seventh day of the seventh month!" Haruchi announced with a tone of pride. Both girls giggled. "I always like to say it like that. It's more fun than saying July 7th."

Sakura managed to control her laughter shortly after Haruchi's last comment.

"So when were you brought into this lovely world?"

"March 28th -"

"The twenty-eighth day of the third month!"

Sakura surprised herself by laughing again. She quickly calculated the situation in her head; she had laughed twice at the same joke within the same minute. She couldn't remember being that comfortable and care-free around someone for a long time. Not even around her teammates did she feel so secure – not since the incident.

"Sakura?" The pink-haired medic hadn't even realized that she had fallen silent for a few minutes until Haruchi's voice broke through her trip down Memory Lane. Nor did she realize that she had still never told Haruchi her name. "You okay?"

Sakura nodded despite the lack of visibility. "Yeah… Yeah, I'm fine…"

"You sure? We could talk about it if you want."

Sakura opened her mouth to refuse Haruchi's offer but thought twice of it. She had already kept it bottled inside for three months now; how much longer could she last? How much longer would she continue to hide in shame and embarrassment? How long could she run from confrontation? How long would she allow herself to live in the stress and panic that she herself had created?

Sakura let out a sigh at her internal answer: _Not much longer._

"Yeah… Talking would be good…"

She heard a couple of pebbles shift and roll around as Haruchi adjusted her position and got as comfortable as she could. Sakura took a deep breath and closed her eyes to the darkness before she started her story.

"About three months ago my teammates and I received a mission. The Snow Country's princess Koyuki Kazahana had recently been kidnapped by rouge, A-class ninja and my team – because of previous relations to the princess – was called in to aid in her rescue. We found the princess and her captors after a day or two of searching and we engaged the enemy in combat." Sakura took a moment to steady her tearing eyes. She thought it almost sickening that she was still so emotional even after her many years served as a kunoichi.

Sakura jumped a bit when she felt an arm wrap around her shoulders. Haruchi had used the time Sakura had to brace herself to find her way to the pinkette's side. Haruchi had heard of this story after all – and she knew that it didn't end well.

Thankful for the friendly support, Sakura continued, "I was scared then Haruchi. The enemy was stronger than we had originally anticipated and Naruto got badly hurt before we realized it. I had rushed to attend to him but in my haste, I didn't see the two men coming for my back. But Sasuke did." Sakura took another breath as she remembered vividly how much blood there was when he killed them both. "They managed to wound him and their strikes were embedded with a special technique that blocked his chakra flow and immobilized his muscle tissue. Sasuke collapsed." '_Because he was protecting me – again; he's always protecting me.'_

"_Sasuke!"_

"_Sakura, get Sasuke out of here! I'll hold them off for you guys!"_

"_I refuse to leave you here by yourself dobe!"_

"_But Sasuke -"_

"_I'll be fine teme; it's you I'm worried about!"_

"_I can still -"_

"_No, you can't!"_

"_If you think for a minute that I'm going to leave -"_

"_Sakura, get him out here!"_

"_Yeah but…"_

"_There's no time to argue about this! Take Sasuke and run!"_

"_But you -"_

"_GO SAKURA!! NOW!!"_

"I was really scared at that point. Sasuke fought tooth and nail to stay and fight alongside Naruto but I ended up dragging him away. Naruto stopped anyone who tried to follow us." '_Because he was protecting us; he's always been protecting me and him. Naruto_ is_ a protector.'_

"We stopped after getting away and I tried to heal Sasuke. He was yelling at me the whole time, telling me that I shouldn't have abandoned Naruto in such a condition and that I made for a lousy ninja." Sakura let out a broken smile. She had always made a lousy ninja.

"I yelled back at him and told him that there was nothing he could have done to help Naruto – to help his best friend. I've never yelled at Sasuke before and he looked at me funny because of it. He was just about to argue back when we were ambushed by another of the enemy's squad – we were too loud in our arguing. There were seven of them all together and they all fought incredibly well. Sasuke and I had to keep on our toes; we couldn't afford a single mistake. We were fine as the first six went down but the last one caught Sasuke off guard."

"He saw the man coming but I knew that he wouldn't be able to block all of the hits. So I jumped in front of him instead." Sakura touched her right thigh where a three-month old battle scar seemed to be throbbing. "He stabbed me with a blade – here in my thigh – before I punched him into a frozen tree."

"The blade he stabbed me with was laced with barbs and spikes to make it shred and tear rather than just pierce. It was extremely painful to pull out. Actually, Sasuke had to remove it because I couldn't handle the pain and would stop touching the blade."

_A scream of pain erupted from her mouth and, as a natural reaction, Sakura immediately released her hold on the bloodied blade. She gently lay herself down so that she leant against a tree and tried once more to pry the blade from her leg. Her attempts ceased as soon as the pain registered. _

_Without warning, another pair of hands firmly grasped the weapon and green eyes met black ones. Sakura nodded to give him permission to pull but thrashed around when the agony came back. She even tried to punch him away and he had to pin both her hands above her head to keep her from resisting him. Holding her both her hands captive with only one of his, Sasuke returned his gaze to the weapon. Sakura felt her muscles tense with the sense of incoming pain but shock replaced her worries when she felt a cool mouth on top of her own._

_She didn't even have time to enjoy the 'kiss' before the blade was ripped from flesh and Sakura tore her mouth away from his to howl in agonizing pain. Sasuke tossed the blade aside and gently directed her hands towards her wound. Sakura whimpered at every movement but slowly channeled healing chakra into the shredded muscle after feeling calmed by her teammate's presence. _

_Deciding to reserve her chakra supply, Sakura cut off her healing energy and opened eyes that she was not aware she had closed. She didn't get to say 'Thank you' before Sasuke had stood up and was offering her a hand. She tentatively smiled, accepted and followed him as he headed back towards Naruto._

"And that's all that happened?"

Sakura shook her head. "No. After we found Naruto again, we helped him defeat the few remaining enemies and safely retrieve the princess. We brought her home and took off for home. We made camp after night fell and I waited until Naruto was asleep."

"To do what?"

"To talk to Sasuke."

_The few glowing embers that they preserved from their late night campfire shaped an eerie silhouette of her quiet teammate. If at a more comfortable state of mind, Sakura might have thought the image beautiful._

"_Sasuke…?" _

"_Hm?"_

"_I wanted to talk to you."_

_Sasuke said nothing as he nodded his head for her to sit beside him. Sakura gladly accepted the invitation. It was a few more moments of silence and staring at the winking embers before she gathered the courage to speak and tried to meet his gaze._

"_I just wanted to ask you… Well,… About that kiss…"_

"_It was to distract you." _

_His voice was dull and blank with no hidden emotion or message encrypted inside it. That, Sakura had always thought, was a very good thing about Sasuke. He never spoke unless necessary but on the rare occasions that he did, he always meant whatever he said. Sasuke Uchiha was not one to play around with words. Still, it did not make handling and understanding his reasons for his 'kiss' easier._

"_D-Distract me?!"_

"_You were resisting too much. I needed to keep you from moving."_

"_And you thought that kissing me was the best way to go about it?"_

"_Hn."_

_Sakura didn't know what to think. So, at a loss of what else to do, she moved her gaze to where his had been throughout the short conversation; back to the diminishing fire. _

_As she opened her mouth to speak again he stopped her with a single sentence. "It didn't mean anything Sakura."_

_Sakura closed her mouth in silent shock. It wasn't that she hadn't expected that statement to be the truth. Sakura Haruno was not stupid; she knew better than to assume that the kiss had meant anything at all. The shock came from the mere _mention_ of the topic. She had been prepared to speak of other things but he kept the previous conversation flowing – even if for one more line. And that, to Sakura's mind, made all the difference._

_It didn't mean nothing, it couldn't have; not to him. For him to even waste his breath and time to reassure her of something that he knew she would have assumed true, meant that he didn't believe it himself. The reassurance was for _his _benefit. And Sakura knew that it meant something. Even if, against her will, the fact made her heart flutter with a small beat of hope – hope for a dream she long ago abandoned. Perhaps it was not too late to make that lost dream a reality…._

_Shifting slightly in her seat, Sakura turned to Sasuke and was surprised to meet his dark eyes with her own vibrant ones. But she didn't let her surprise startle her. She was going to go through with this; even if for just the slightest chance of possibility that she could still mean something to him (and get the bragging rights too). _

_Making sure to keep steady eye contact, Sakura scooted closer to Sasuke and said, "While we're on the topic of things that don't mean anything…"_

_Sasuke didn't move. And Sakura took that as her initiative to lean in and kiss him. As she moved her lips against his, she almost couldn't believe that he hadn't roughly shoved her away already but decided to count her blessings and screw it all to Hell. Because, hey, she was kissing Sasuke Uchiha. But the real surprise of the evening came when: He. Kissed. Her. Back._

The cave was very quiet for a minute or two. In fact, Sakura almost found the silence suffocating – a pressure that she couldn't even compare to gravity. Secretly, she was glad when she heard the long whistle ring out beside her; glad to still have the supporting arm around her shoulders; glad to feel her friend's knotted hair tickle her arm. It made her feel secure and safe.

'_Just like when I'm around Sasuke… or Naruto…'_

"First time?" Haruchi asked.

"Being kissed? Oh no. I've been on a number of dates and missions that have required me to be intimate. Hell, I've even been parties where the guests played Truth or Dare or Seven Minutes in Heaven or Spin the Bottle."

"But did you two go any farther?"

Sakura sighed. "No… No, he stopped it before it escalated past minor tongue action."

"And after you both stopped and panted like parched dogs… What'd he do?"

Sakura bowed her head at the sting of the memory. "He kept muttering something like, 'It doesn't matter' and walked away from the camp. I only saw him again when Naruto woke up and we headed back for the Leaf Village again." Sakura stood silent for a moment to recall exactly what had happened next. Haruchi was patient and made no comment during the space of quiet. Sakura found that she really liked that about the Maki girl; she knew when words were needed and when one just needed time to think.

"When the village gates were within sight Naruto whooped out in excitement and sped ahead of us calling out 'Last one to Ichiraku's has to pay!' I laughed and was about to race after him when Sasuke grabbed my arm to hold me back. Once he saw Naruto's orange vest fly through the open gates he pulled me behind a tree and confronted me.

He… He asked me what the hell I was thinking when I kissed him. I told him I was thinking exactly what he was when he kissed me back." Sakura gave a dry and empty laugh. Looking back on it, she had been rather snappish with him that time. "He glared and squeezed my arm to the point of bruising and he told me that anything that happened that night meant nothing. That's when I snapped.

"I started yelling things at him; things that I've only ever thought but never dared to say or write. I think I even told him that he was a complete failure at bullshitting at some point; told him that whatever we did wasn't nothing – not to either of us. I told him that he was being childish and running away from whatever the hell was wrong with him and that he should just learn to grow up and act like an adult – or better yet, a true shinobi.

"I was really scared then Haruchi. I've never yelled at Sasuke before, never disagreed with him. I've only really been like that around Naruto. And I was worried that I had crossed some invisible line – a line that had been drawn from the moment we were announced as Team 7 in the Academy. So I broke free from his grasp and ran after Naruto as quickly as I could. I felt like such a hypocrite."

A pause filled the damp air and the supporting hand began to rub Sakura's arm before Haruchi took a deep breath and spoke.

"You did the right thing you know. You had a right to be angry with him; even if you crossed some sort of line."

Sakura softly huffed out a breath of air. "Yeah…"

"Hey, if you really do want to be in a relationship with him then you need to show him all of who you are, and that includes the blood-thirsty bitch that you have somewhere inside of you."

Sakura gave a quiet laugh. She could imagine that Naruto would also tell her something like this.

"And besides, if he can't appreciate every single bit of you then it's his loss and he doesn't deserve what you have to offer."

Sakura cocked her head in a curious manner, as if a new thought had just crossed her mind. "What _do _I have to offer him Haruchi? I'm not gorgeous like Ino, I'm not as fierce as Tenten, and I'm not at all graceful like Hinata. What would he possibly see in me?"

Sakura cried out as she felt a nail flick her forehead. "You idiot, you have plenty to give to him. Sure Ino may have a shapelier figure but you don't have a bad one yourself missy. And yeah, Tenten isn't a force to be messed with but you've got your own little temper on you. And you may never be as graceful as Hinata but you sure as hell co-ordinate well on your feet. And you know what else? You've got the brain of a genius, the hair of a goddess, the eyes of an angel, and the heart capable of the purest love; and that heart will win you the man in the end."

Sakura had felt a smile grow with each compliment that Haruchi fed her. She already felt silly for doubting herself. But she still couldn't resist asking one more question.

"You really think so?"

"I _know _so Sakura. Twelve years is a long time to go without love and Sasuke will soon realize that you hold an eternity's worth of it. He will be attracted to it but he will also be cautious about it. You'll need to be careful and especially patient with him Sakura but I know that you can do it."

Sakura felt a familiar prickling behind her eyes and realized that she felt as though she were once again a small child in flower field next to a best friend and learning about cosmos and flower buds.

"Thank you Haruchi."

**Current Status: Finding Her Way**

* * *

**Name: Sasuke Uchiha**

He didn't know why or how or when, but he did know that _somehow _Haruchi Maki was leading them into a trap.

When Naruto had roused him awake his mind had immediately been plagued with images and directions. They all pointed towards a specific mountain in the Earth Country. The mountain towered above three smaller mountains that surrounded it, towered so high above the others that it seemed to hold up the sky. Then the images sent him inside of the mountain where there was a passageway, which soon ended with wall of rocks that were loose enough to have fallen in a recent rockslide. Beyond those rocks lay a cavern of darkness but he could hear voices inside of it. He couldn't hear very well and he wasn't able to distinguish them as belonging to anyone he knew until he heard the laughter. It was _hers_ – _Sakura's._ It was her voice!

And before he could find out more he got a punch to the face from a restless and worried blond. Sasuke quickly told Naruto what he could remember of the images and no sooner than he had uttered the words 'I know where she is', they took to the trees.

He estimated it to be about a three day journey and it was currently the second evening. They were close, – and even if Haruchi had never planted those images in his brain – both Sasuke and Naruto could tell; they could feel it. In fact, they felt it so strongly that there were times when they swore they saw a flash of pink in the tree up ahead or heard her giggling just behind that branch. They already knew, without speaking a word to each other, that if this happened when she were only missing, that all sanity would be forever lost if they dared to find her dead.

**Current Status: Racing Against Time and Sanity**


	5. Sakura's Decision

**Author's Note: **So, yeah. Um... Not sure how much there is to say here. Sorry for the wait! This is the longest chapter yet but it's also my least favorite. It's meant to be the one with the most suspense and tension... kinda climatic y'know? I don't feel like I've accomplished that but I'll see what you guys think. :) Thank you to **Twisted Musalih, XxXTigerstarzXxX, Sakura's Indecision **for reviewing! You guys really are the best! ^^ And welcome, **SasuSakuFan4ever798**, to the "We Review the Haruchi Maki Chronicles" 'club'. Current Members: 4. ^o^

**Disclaimer: **2010!! We're one year closer to destruction!! Unfortunately, I'm not a year closer to owning Naruto. Sadface. :(

**Chapter Dedication: **To my little club of 4 fan-fictioners! Twisted Musalih, XxXTigerstarzXxX, Sakura's Indecision, SasuSakuFan4ever798: give yourselves a reward (like a mug of hot chocolate, or a movie night, or a cookie) and say it's from me! ^^

* * *

**Chapter Five: Sakura's Choice**

**Name: Sasuke Uchiha**

An explosion sounded off to Sasuke's left but the Uchiha paid it little attention; he had his hands full with his own band of clones to get rid of.

_Slash!_

_Clang!_

_Boom!_

"Just how many of them are there?!" came the frustrated cry of his partner. Sasuke could easily sympathize. He would never have expected Haruchi to be able to make Shadow Clones, let alone this many of them. There had to be two hundred at least! He'd only ever heard of Naruto being capable of accomplishing such a feat. So how come he hadn't known of the bandit's incredible ability? No one – bandit or no bandit – could ever keep exceptional techniques, like the Shadow Clone or Chidori, a secret for long.

"Damn it!" Naruto cried out while moving to stand back-to-back with Sasuke, "There's no end to them!"

"Tell me something I don't know, dobe!" Sasuke snapped before lashing out his katana to fend off ten clones at once.

"All I'm saying is that – Rasengan! – this Maki girl is a helluva lot more impressive than I thought!"

"Yeah, well, at least you're finally getting a taste of your own medicine – Chidori!"

"Shut it, Sasuke!"

Standing back to back again, Naruto and Sasuke thought over their options. There really did seem like there was no end to Haruchi's Shadow Clones. How the hell did she have enough chakra to make so many of them anyway? Sasuke had only ever seen Naruto perform as extraordinary a technique and he knew for a _fact_ that Naruto could only create so many copies because of the chakra boost he received from the Demon Fox. While it was quite possible that Haruchi herself was a jinchuuriki, Sasuke didn't recall sensing any abnormal amount of power from her that time in the woods. Her childish attitude aside, she had seemed like a perfectly average renegade. So _where the hell _did she find this amount of power? Neither ninja had much time to ponder the answer to the question since Haruchi's clones jumped forward again.

In the midst of battle, Sasuke heard Naruto cry out in frustration, "That's it! I say we take 'em all out in one shot!"

Silently, Sasuke couldn't help but to agree with him.

"Up!" Sasuke commanded. Naruto immediately obeyed. Over the time that they had been partners and teammates, they had learned to trust each other's instincts, orders, judgments, and strategies without question. Doing so often saved lives, time, and trouble.

Jumping in the air after his friend, Sasuke focused on creating hand seals. Ending in 'Tiger', Sasuke breathed deeply just before unleashing an incredible inferno upon the dozens of annoying clones. The Haruchis being consumed within the Grand Fireball, Sasuke and Naruto landed on empty, slightly charred land.

Slamming a hand on his partner's shoulder, Naruto commented, "Nice one, teme."

Sasuke only nodded in response. Satisfied with his work, Sasuke turned to face the mountain that loomed above the two ninja. It was the same one Sasuke had seen in his 'visions'. The large mountain and the three smaller structures surrounding it; up close however, Sasuke and Naruto could see that the center rock was jagged in build and littered with a good number of dangerous looking precipices while the other three were a bit more worn, older. It was a strangely foreboding sight.

He spent another second looking at the mountains before leaping towards them, Naruto following from behind. It was about time they got Sakura back.

Calling upon his photographic memory, Sasuke recalled every detail he could about the caved in wall and where he could find it. Following Haruchi's directions, he found the covered cavern entrance fairly quickly. Naruto made quick work of the stray rocks with an exploding tag. Once the debris settled, the two shinobi wasted no time in rushing inside the cave but they were met with a sight they had hoped they wouldn't see.

Haruchi had Sakura restrained against the far wall, and was holding a kunai to her neck.

"Not a step closer you two." Haruchi sang.

Sasuke and Naruto froze, their minds filled with indecision. They could _see _her, she was _right there!_ But they were still so far away from bringing her home safely. Two pairs of hands fisted and Haruchi was shot with two glares that threatened death. Haruchi giggled.

"What's with the glare boys? Aren't you happy to see Sakura?"

Both glares sharpened with malice and fury.

"Get away from her." Naruto growled.

Haruchi tilted her head playfully. "I really don't see that happening."

"I SAID TO GET AWAY FROM HER!!"

Two sets of eyes morphed into a dangerous red color and feral threats sounded throughout the cavern. When Haruchi laughed again, Naruto nearly lost it and leapt for her throat. The only thing stopping him was Sasuke's arm.

"It's not her." Sasuke breathed.

"_What?_" Naruto spun around to face his best friend. "Are you sure?"

Sasuke nodded; his Sharingan had never failed him before. This was just another mind jutsu of Haruchi's. Still… just to be sure…

Sasuke's hands formed 'Ram' and he said, "Kai!"

The image of Haruchi and Sakura by the wall slowly faded from their vision which both relieved and frustrated the two men. Where was Sakura if she wasn't here?

Naruto and Sasuke both quickly spun around towards the entrance when they heard the sound of a falling stone echo behind them. With widened eyes, they watched as Haruchi rushed a panicked Sakura out of the cave and further up the mountain side. Without any thoughts of possible traps, they broke into pursuit.

**Current Status: **_**Caught**_

* * *

**Name: Naruto Uzumaki**

Haruchi Maki was quick to respond to their chase. Each time they'd get close to the females, Haruchi would call upon a sea of Shadow Clones to push the men back. The routine was beginning to get tiresome when the two women suddenly stopped climbing the mountainside; they had stopped near the top and were perched uncomfortably close to the edge of a precipice, Sakura hiding behind Haruchi who stood as if prepared to fight.

"Sakura! What are you doing? We're here to bring you home!"

Sakura flinched at her name and seemed to shrink in fear. Fear? Naruto was confused; why was she frightened of them?

"Something's weird." Naruto whispered to Sasuke.

"I know." Sasuke muttered back. Concentrating his Sharingan on the pair near the edge, Sasuke narrowed his eyes in calculation. "Haruchi's chakra is flowing through Sakura; it's another one of her mind jutsus. Whatever Sakura's seeing, it isn't us."

"Haruchi…" Naruto fisted his hands and growled dangerously. He had nearly had enough of Haruchi and her mind tricks. Naruto snapped his head back to Sasuke. "How do we break the jutsu?"

"Haruchi's maintaining skin to skin contact by holding Sakura's hand. If we can break the two away from each other, the jutsu should be cancelled."

"Get the bitch away from Sakura; I'm on it! Shadow Clone jutsu!"

Sasuke read Haruchi's lips from afar as dozens of Narutos started appearing, "Just stay behind me and keep your hand on my shoulder. That way I'll know you haven't fallen off the cliff." Sasuke glared when Sakura nodded and obeyed the bandit's every command. She looked like a small child cowering behind an older sister. In fact… Sasuke widened his eyes. Sakura's eyes were glazed over and she had fisted her free hand in front of her chest like she used to when she was young. Maybe Sakura wasn't seeing them as someone else – maybe she believed she was a child again, when she hadn't met them yet. It would explain why she was so scared of two, strange men calling out her name and chasing her up a mountain.

Sasuke jumped into the fray of clones vs. clones. He couldn't stand the thought of being a stranger to Sakura. Losing another person who was so close to him… Sasuke could easily imagine breaking down if that happened.

The battle lasted at least ten minutes before Sasuke heard Naruto cry out in desperate pain. Naruto cursed himself over and over again. He had been so determined to get to Sakura that he had missed seeing the clone come at him from the side. Naruto sure wasn't a medic of any kind but he still knew when his leg had been broken. Damn it! Now he was useless! He couldn't very well operate on a single leg. Hell, he was having a tough enough time keeping the rest of Maki's clones away from damaging him further.

Naruto was trying to get his clones to make a path through Haruchi's to make it easier for Sasuke but it was difficult. Haruchi had caught on to his plan quickly and was pulling off new moves to keep them at bay. Boulders that Naruto thought only Sakura could pick up were thrown every which way and there were more Grand Fireballs flying around than Naruto thought Sasuke was capable of making at once. A few of his clones were even taken out using taijutsu techniques scarily similar to Lion's Barrage and the Uzumaki Barrage! Naruto couldn't understand how Haruchi could possibly know and copy each of their moves unless she was also a secret holder of the Sharingan which was absolutely impossible. Still, that fact didn't make the situation any less infuriating.

Shouting out a battle cry, Naruto had most of his clones develop his favorite technique: Rasengan. Somewhere to his right, Naruto's ears picked up the sound of thousands of birds chirping. By the volume of the birdcalls though, Naruto knew that Sasuke was using a very advanced version of his beloved Chidori. Naruto didn't even want to think of how much chakra Sasuke was putting into that one move – he himself was putting in a rather large quantity of power into this move. But none of that would matter if they could only get to Sakura.

The combined blast of their attacks seemed to do the trick and Sasuke used the last of his chakra reserve to sprint towards Sakura. The Uchiha only just saw the smirk on Haruchi's face before he hit her away with his arm.

As soon as contact with the Maki had been broken, Sakura's eyes shone with conscious life again.

"S-Sasuke?"

Shoving all cares and concerns aside, Sasuke gently placed a hand to her face and brushed away her too-long bangs. "You're safe Sakura. I'm here; Naruto too."

Sakura's face broke into a bright smile that Sasuke had missed much too much. He nearly smiled back until he felt a gentle hand rest between his shoulder blades and he heard Naruto cry out in agony for a second time. Sasuke widened his now-black eyes. He had been affected by this technique before. Within moments, Sasuke felt his chakra being blocked, his immobilized muscles collapsing underneath him, unfamiliar arms catching him, and a cold voice saying,

"Sorry Sakura. They won't be saving you yet."

Before he knew it, Haruchi transported and was holding him off the cliff's edge while a clone of hers met her carrying an injured Naruto. Sasuke cursed. Looking his friend over, Sasuke could see not one, but both of his legs hanging in wrong positions. Naruto was biting his lip in an effort not to scream.

Truly afraid, Sasuke looked to see what Haruchi would do. He saw her turn to glare mockingly at Sakura who looked frozen in paranoia. He could see her lips forming the words, 'No, no, no, please no.' He didn't need to see her face to know that Haruchi was smirking.

"Here, Sakura; catch!"

Naruto and Sasuke were thrown straight up into the air with a strength that reminded them so much of Sakura that they forgot, just for a moment, of the peril they were in. Falling back through the air, Naruto could see Sakura running towards them with all she had. Naruto smiled through the agony throbbing from his legs. At least he had taught Sakura to never give up. At least he had done that much in his lifetime.

**Current Status: **_**Losing**_

* * *

**Name: Sakura Haruno**

How could she have been so _useless_? How could she have _let_ this happen? _Why_ was this happening in the first place? Sakura could only repeat those questions over and over again as she ran with all she had. She knew she had to reach them, knew she had to save them. Otherwise, terrible, terrible things would happen.

'_Please God, I've asked you for so much in the past but please, please, _please_ let me make it!!'_

Diving towards the cliffside, Sakura could barely believe it when she felt her hands clasp around two different wrists but panicked when their weight started to pull her down the cliff with them. Thinking fast, Sakura focused on channeling her chakra in order to firmly hook her body to the earth and to keep a strong grip on both her teammate's wrists. Sakura assumed it worked by the strain in her shoulders and the slight headache she often got from concentrating her chakra more than necessary.

Panting with heavy breaths, Sakura kept a firm eye on Sasuke and Naruto but tried so very hard to not notice the jagged, rocky landscape dozens of meters below them and what could happen to her boys if she dared to let go.

"Are you insane?" Sasuke hissed.

"Way to go Sakura!" Naruto cheered.

Sakura smiled at her boys. She honestly didn't expect anything less from either of them. "Just give me a minute and I'll -"

A gentle hand laid itself on Sakura's lower back before she could say more. Sakura assumed it to be Haruchi but tried not to think of it any longer. What she didn't anticipate was the steady drainage of her chakra level. Sakura cried out because of the sudden exhaustion as sweat broke through her brow without reason, the pain in her arm sockets doubled, and it became twice as hard to concentrate her now-limited chakra into her hands, legs and stomach. Ignoring the questions of her teammates, Sakura turned behind her to see Haruchi Maki's inexpressive face.

"Haruchi? Wh-What did you do? What happened to my chakra?"

"Nothing's happened to it Sakura. I've only manipulated your brain into _thinking _that your body has a limited amount of chakra left."

With widened eyes, Sakura swallowed and asked, "How much do I have?"

"Enough to save just one of them."

Horrified, Sakura turned to Sasuke for options, "Is she telling the truth?"

Sasuke shook his head, "I can't see Sakura. She did something to our chakra too; I can't use my Sharingan."

Trying very hard to control the on-coming hyperventilation, Sakura closed her eyes and went over all her options. If Haruchi was telling the truth about just using another mind jutsu to get her to think things, then she should be able to disable it with a single hand-sign. Only, she'd need her hands free for that and right now, they were busy keeping her precious ones alive. Sasuke had said that Haruchi had blocked off their chakra too, which meant that they couldn't easily hold on to the cliff by themselves. Plus, both Naruto and Sasuke's legs were useless dead weights because of the previous battle; there was no way either of them could pull themselves up the cliff. If she had all of her chakra at her disposal, she would have had no problem using her super-human strength to pull both of them to safety but that was obviously no longer an option; Haruchi had said she only had enough reserves to pull one of them up and Sakura doubted Haruchi would help her pull either of them up. So Sakura had to make a choice.

Sakura shook her pink mane in disbelief. She couldn't believe it, she wouldn't believe it. No matter which way she turned the situation around, she couldn't save both of them. Sakura could feel the pressure of her tears pressing against her still-shut eyelids.

"It's your turn to make a choice Sakura." Haruchi said.

"No…" Sakura whispered to herself.

"_Choose _Sakura; choose _now_. Who will you save?"

"You're asking me to decide that?!" Sakura couldn't help the tears that ran down her face and through her hair. "I can't choose that; I _won't_!!"

"Then they both die."

Sakura opened her eyes in fear. She had known that she needed to hold on to them for as long as possible but the idea of their deaths was only now sinking in. Whoever she let go of would hate her as they fell through the air, would hate her until their body collided with the rocky terrain below, would hate her when their bodies broke apart and their blood filled the jagged valley. Whoever she let fall, truly would be lost to her forever; _they would __**die**__._

Sakura felt the hyperventilation on the rise again. She was panicking. Pros and cons and memories and denials ran circles in her mind. If Sakura could, she might have thrown up because of the rush and confusion and sudden panic and overwhelming fear. She had never been expected to choose between Sasuke and Naruto before; there was never even a _choice_ for her – they had both just _been there_. There was once a time when she would have done anything for Sasuke's sake, but there was also once a time when Naruto's well-being was all she thought about. Both of them were more than friends to her and they were even than family too. Both still had dreams to accomplish, a lifetime full of adventures, people who loved them back home – who was she to steal all that away from one of them? Of course, she didn't have to make a choice. As Haruchi said, she could shy away and let both of them die. Sakura's heart shattered at the thought. Knowing she was going to lose one of them was hard enough; she couldn't imagine a life without _both_ of them.

Sakura let out a gasp when she felt her chakra start to wane and her body fall forward just the smallest bit. Sakura had to push her chakra beyond her safety limits to hold on a little bit longer.

"Sakura," Sasuke started, easily seeing Sakura's struggle, "just let go of me."

"No." The grip on Sasuke's wrist tightened in defiance.

"Sakura -"

"No!"

"So you'll let go of Naruto then?!"

"No!!" They were both shouting now.

"Sakura, listen to me!!" Pained green met with hardened black. "If you let go of me the world won't end; Naruto would help you get through the day."

Sakura tried to shake off the truth in his words. "But Sasuke -"

"If Naruto died here… I couldn't help you Sakura. I couldn't do anything for you."

"Sasuke…" Sakura felt something die inside of her. Sasuke had never been so openly sensitive to his effect on her. She had a terrible feeling that it would be a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

"I've never done anything for you Sakura; never been good for you. Naruto is a better man than I ever will be. Just… it's time you let go of me."

Tears clouded Sakura's vision until she could barely distinguish Sasuke's hair from the rocks below. She only wished he knew how wrong he was; knew just how much good there truly was in him; _wished she could tell him all that she felt!_ But the time for talking was over. Conversation was no longer an option. And there had been _so_ many things she had wanted to share with him…

Hoping she was looking him in the eyes, she only said, "I'm sorry, Sasuke. I'm so, so sorry…"

Against her greatest will, she could feel her left hand start to relax a little.

"_NOO!!_"

Sakura's grip instantly tightened again at the command. Thank God, Naruto had finally spoken up!

"Don't do it, Sakura! Don't you _dare _let go of the teme!!" Sakura had never been more exhilarated to follow Naruto's instructions. "You made a promise to me – or have you forgotten how hard we worked to bring him home?!"

Sakura's eyes widened at the mention of her oath. Of course, she hadn't ever really forgotten it but… this was a time when it was easy to forget things like promises made years ago…

_They were 'keeping an eye on him' the night they made that promise to each other, the night after his trial had taken place and his sentence decided. It hadn't been as bad as they had imagined it – a bit of probation, a bit of community service, some questioning and a few tests of loyalty and skill – and they both volunteered to take the first watch on him. He was asleep now, exhausted, and both Naruto and Sakura had taken their time in admiring their friend as he rested. It had been so long since they had seen him at any sort of peace…_

"_Sakura," _

_She made a noise to show that she was listening._

"_Promise me something?"_

_Sakura tore her gaze away from the snoozing Uchiha and focused on her most-trusted friend. "Anything, Naruto."_

_He swallowed shallowly before saying, "Promise me that… that you won't ever let Sasuke go. Not for any reason and not at any time. I don't… I don't ever want to lose him again… It hurt too much without him here, y'know?"_

_Sakura turned away to let Naruto shed his tears in some sort of privacy – not that she didn't need some privacy of her own. She knew exactly how Naruto felt and she knew exactly what her answer would be._

"_Of-Of course Naruto… I swear… I won't let us lose him."_

_She jumped when he gripped her shoulders, turned her around, and glared firmly into her tearing eyes. She was surprised to find his eyes mostly dry from tears – she could've sworn that he had been crying earlier._

"_That's not enough Sakura!" He growled while lightly shaking her shoulders, "I want you to promise me – right now – that you'll protect him at any cost; even if it means choosing his life over mine. I want you to swear that to me now!"_

_She frantically nodded her head in fear. She hadn't ever seen Naruto act this hysterical or irrational. She wasn't even sure if he was in a stable state of mind._

"_Swear it Sakura!"_

"_I-I-I swear Naruto! I will protect Sasuke!"_

"_Even if it means sentencing me?"_

"_Yes!" She hadn't really meant it though. She had sworn that promise out of fear._

_It seemed to be enough for the blond though. He released his grip on her shoulders and stepped away from her, shaking and breathing hard. He was staring at his quivering hands in horrific fascination; as if he had been choking her instead of keeping her in place. Neither teammate said anything for a while but then Sasuke stirred lightly in his sleep and both shinobi caught their breath, snapping back to attention at once._

"_So… It's decided then…" Naruto turned to her with a familiar, non-threatening grin, "Guess he's stuck with us, eh?"_

Sakura felt numb ice penetrate her heart when Naruto grinned at her. She had always known what that grin meant. It was a reassurance; a message of 'it's okay' but it almost always meant endangerment on his part – self sacrifice.

Sakura shook her head, "No…" Despite her efforts, Sakura could feel the tears streaming down her face again. "No, Naruto you can't!!"

"Only way, Sakura." He let out a small chuckle then, even though he was shedding tears of his own.

"No it's not!! It can't be the only way!!" At a loss of what else to do, Sakura tightened her death grip on their wrists. She'd be damned if she let either one of them slip through her fingers. But she still panicked like a twelve year-old when she felt Naruto's fingers loosening their grip on her arm. "_Please, Naruto; don't do this! __**Please**__!!!_"

One more smile. "Not your choice Sakura… I'm sorry."

"_NARUTO -_"

"_Damn it, dobe!!_"

Sakura could have cried out in relief when Sasuke used his free hand to cling to Naruto's right wrist. It was okay; they both were holding him now; Naruto wasn't going anywhere.

"You have always played the hero Naruto, and I've put up with it until now but I swear to God, if you even _think _of letting go and giving up, I will _not_ hesitate to beat you into Hell!!"

Naruto would have laughed at Sasuke's uncharacteristic outburst had the circumstances been different. But for now, he just gave a sharp nod and gripped Sasuke's wrist with his own hand. Watching the entire exchange, Sakura wished she weren't so weak. Truthfully, she had been ready to let Naruto sacrifice himself; she was glad that she wouldn't have to choose between her most precious people; relieved to have the choice taken out of her hands. She had been a coward. Sakura shuddered with a shaky breath, closed her eyes, and called upon all of her inner courage.

No longer would Sakura Haruno be afraid to choose. No longer would she let others make hard decisions for her. No longer would she hide behind her teammates.

She opened her eyes.

Sakura Haruno had made her choice.

**Current Status: **_**Letting Go**_

* * *

Sakura made sure to gaze into both black and blue eyes as she smiled a reassuring smile; one that said everything would be alright. And despite the fact that her eyes were refilling with tears, they believed her – they believed _in_ her.

"Just… Just promise me that you two won't let go, okay?"

Both men nodded their heads and Sakura took a moment to look behind her at Haruchi. The bandit's eyebrow was raised in question.

'_Are you really going to go through with it?'_

"Yes."

Haruchi's black eyes narrowed in a challenging manner. She didn't believe that Sakura would follow through on her choice and she was daring her to re-think her strategy. She obviously didn't know Sakura all that well.

Turning back to her comrades, Sakura let loose a few stray tears before smiling again. Squeezing both their arms tightly, she was happy to feel them grip her own back – in their own way of reassuring her, _'We trust you, Sakura and we love you – no matter what.'_

It was the only message she needed.

Closing her eyes and relaxing her mind and body, Sakura let gravity take control and fell through the air, right beside her teammates, her partners, her best friends, her brother and her loved one.

And she honestly wouldn't have had it _any_ other way.


	6. Connections

**Author's Note: **SURPRISE!! I've got a new chapter ready for you guys! I was so elated when I got reviews from people that I decided I'd give you guys a treat for it. I got 6 reviews for my last chap and the space between posting Chap4 and Chap5 was 30 days according to my Document Manager. (Which was really unfair of me. I didn't realize I had left you guys hanging for a month. -.-) Soooo... I decided that I'd update 6 times faster this time around!! (If you're a math person, you'd know that 6 times faster than 30 days is 5 days. So viola! Here's my update!) Aren't I just the awesome-est? :D

I also wanted to let you guys know a few things:  
**a.** I've put up a link for Sakura's Outfit in case you were curious. I've also posted a NEW link to a NEW picture of Haruchi. This pic is a bit more accurate on what I pictured for my lovely OC so feel free to check it out!  
**b. **On my Profile, I've got a bit more information on some of my stories. This info includes sneak-peeks to my next chapters so if you're interested, check it out too!  
**c. **Not only did I get 6 reviews last time, I added 3 names to my 'We Review the Haruchi Maki Chronicles' club! So welcome Luka1Sakura, Crystal Ying, and ScarlettIsTheName!  
**d.** Don't expect this kind of treat to happen again. I don't know if I could do it again and I only managed to get it done with this chapter because  
**e. **this is my favorite chapter out of the entire series! ^^ So I hope you guys like it as much as I do. This is also the longest chapter; even longer than the last one so you guys should be extra happy!  
**f. **If, after reading Chap6, you are still confused or have any questions, review or message me and I'll get the answer to you somehow.

**Disclaimer: **I'm not sure how many times I have to say it, but I don't own Naruto, Sasuke or Sakura. I do however, have my name on Haruchi Maki, my Original Character. :P

**Chapter Dedication: **To the usuals! Thank you all who reside in my 'We Review the Haruchi Maki Chronicles' club! Honestly, I should make you guys some sort of badge or award or something... O.o

* * *

**Chapter Six: Connections**

**Name: Haruchi Maki**

So that was how the stories of Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki ended. They perished together, as a single unit, a true team. Never letting go of each other and becoming a stronger force than they ever could be alone. Haruchi closed her eyes and slowly smiled. She now understood why she existed; to present the perfect tales with the perfect conclusions. That was why she had come into their lives after all, to put an end to _them_. But, of course, as the saying goes…

'_An end is only a new beginning.'_

Haruchi opened her eyes to a different landscape. She had transported herself to the place Team 7 was sure to land. She wanted to see their faces when their end came.

Glancing upwards, Haruchi had no trouble in spotting the falling trio. Haruchi widened her smile. They were still holding hands.

'_So they have learned after all. Or perhaps, they already knew.'_

She couldn't hear, so much as _feel_ the few words they shared with each other. There were words of love, comfort, peace, serenity. Haruchi couldn't help but close her eyes and relax all her muscles at the feelings of completeness within herself. From that point, she knew: she would walk away from this event stronger than ever before.

Opening her jet black eyes Haruchi deduced that they were close; it couldn't be too much longer before they met the ground. Smiling like a small child in awe, Haruchi raised her hands towards the three friends, as if they were butterflies and she was trying to catch them.

"Esira."

As the strange word left Haruchi's lips, many things began to happen at once. The very air seemed to pulse with a powerful energy, the wind ceased to ring so violently throughout the ravine, time seemed to slow, and even gravity started to relinquish its magnetic demands. And slowly, bit by bit, the falling team began to fall _slower_. Haruchi could have laughed at their bewildered expressions but decided instead, on keeping her concentration. Ever so gently, when Team 7 was practically floating, Haruchi lowered her hands and watched the three ninja softly land on the rocky earth.

Keeping up her peaceful smile, Haruchi made her way towards Naruto. She laughed at his panicked expression and laughed a little harder when he tried to escape, forgetting about his broken legs. Reaching the place where the three of them sat, Haruchi knelt down and placed her hands over top of Naruto's injuries. Three pairs of eyes widened as green healing chakra became visible.

"You three can let go of each other any time now." Haruchi joked. They didn't let go right away but when Haruchi was done with Naruto's legs and insisted that she be allowed to heal the sure-to-be-there bruises on his wrists too, they managed to pry their fingers off each other. Haruchi politely held back any remark she may have had when she saw Sakura start to work on Sasuke's wounds.

It was quiet while the two ladies worked. Haruchi eventually got annoyed with the silence and began humming a melodic tune that caught the attention of all three of the ninja around her. Haruchi smiled, as if sharing a personal joke.

'_I didn't expect all three of them to recognize the lullaby. Or at least not so quickly.'_

Finishing up with Naruto's injuries, Haruchi retrieved her hands and sat back, happy with all her work. The four of them sat in silence while Sakura continued to work and when she was done, they still found that they had nothing to say.

"Y'know Sakura," Haruchi did her best not to laugh at how they all jumped, "we never finished our game. Got any questions to ask?"

Sakura looked too stunned to answer and Naruto took her silence as his queue.

"I've got a question; what the hell is your issue?!"

The Maki bandit gave a little giggle. "Which issue are you referring to?"

"How 'bout you start with the whole floating-through-the-air thing!" Haruchi took notice of the fire behind Naruto's cerulean eyes, fire that told her that he was ready to beat her to a pulp if she dared to make the wrong move. Haruchi inwardly sighed. She supposed she should have expected as much. Naruto was nothing if not determined. And ferociously protective.

"Are you so surprised?" Haruchi was glad to see that she had the full attention of all three of them. "Everything I've done, you've been surprised. How was this any different?" It seemed that not one of them had an answer for her. Haruchi gave a gentle smile and wrapped her arms around her knees. "I suppose I will make more sense if I start at the beginning huh?"

"Beginning?" Sakura asked, finally finding her voice.

"Of what?" Sasuke put in.

"Of Haruchi Maki." As expected, puzzled expressions appeared in response to her answer. Haruchi lightly sighed, knowing she had one hell of an explanation ahead of her. She glanced up towards the sky, as if hoping that the words needed to explain what she wished to express were written in the clouds. Giving up on the heavens, Haruchi lowered her gaze to meet the stares that were sent her way. Smiling again she said, "Perhaps it would just be simpler if I showed you."

And then the rocky terrain disappeared to be replaced with a room that Sakura happened to know very well…

_A beautiful melody hummed throughout the Haruno's small room. But soon the music found the room's walls to be too limiting and it traveled beyond them, reaching out towards the rest of the simple house and even to the outside world. The hypnotizing tune could be traced to a well-polished grand piano found in the center of the tiny room. There wasn't much more to the room other than the large instrument. Two separate chairs placed in two different corners, a couple paintings hung on the walls, and an open window that always seemed to face the sun._

_Sitting on the piano bench were two adult women. One had hair as fair as a daisy's petals and eyes as green as any healthy flower's leaves; the other was black as a raven's plumage in both hair and eyes. Both ladies had smiles on their faces as the fair one's fingers flew across the keys of ivory and ebony; how fitting that they both contrasted as well as the instruments keys._

_All too soon, the song came to an end and the darker female clapped in cheer._

"_Kona Haruno, you've been practicing behind my back haven't you?"_

_Kona laughed good-heartedly; a laugh that her sleeping daughter upstairs was sure to inherit. _

"_I thought you'd be pleased with it Mikoto. Aren't you always saying I don't practice often enough?"_

"_Yes but I didn't think you ever listened to me!"_

"_Then you better think again, Mrs. Uchiha!"_

_The two women laughed again. It was obvious to any observing third party that the two were good friends._

"_Well, as fun as this has been," Mikoto started, "I really should get home before Fugaku goes mad trying to handle Sasuke by himself."_

"_How is Sasuke anyway? He's just over two years old now, isn't he?"_

_Mikoto nodded with pride. "And he's such an energetic one. He's walking now and Fugaku and I are having such a time of it keeping track of him. I swear Itachi wasn't nearly as much a hassle."_

_Kona giggled at her friend's worn expression. "He sounds like a little ray of sunshine."_

"_Oh, he is." Mikoto let a mother's smile show through her slight exhaustion. She was happy despite her small complaints about her youngest son. "He really is…" Her dark eyes then gazed out the window, remembering how just yesterday Sasuke had discovered that he could fit through the railings on the stairs and underneath the garden's porch. Itachi had to coax the little guy out with the promise of tomatoes. _

_Snapping out of her flashback, Mikoto faced her friend and politely inquired about her own young child._

"_Oh Sakura," Kona put a hand through her pale hair, "she's a character alright. Satou's had his hands full since she seems to enjoy his company most. She always seems to know when he's heading out to the park and she follows him then; scares me half to death when I can't find her anywhere in the house."_

"_And Satou?"_

"_Oh, you know my husband; he scolds her in front of me to put on a show but as soon as I turn my back he's sneaking her outside to play in the gardens."_

"_Ugh, I know what _that's _like. Fugaku refuses to show how much his boys really mean to him even though he knows he has nothing to prove to me. I'm his wife for heaven's sake! But he still won't admit to it when I catch him holding Sasuke when he's sleeping."_

_Kona shook her head in disbelief. "Men and their precious egos."_

_Mikoto shook her finger at her friend. "Oh no, no, no. You haven't known the term 'pride' or 'ego' until you've met an Uchiha."_

_Kona smiled and gave a gentle laugh. "I suppose I haven't; you yourself are living proof of that."_

_Kona anticipated the playful hit to her shoulder and the badly suppressed giggles._

_Mikoto stood up from the bench and moved to grab a bag and coat thrown on one of the room's chairs. "I should probably head home now. It's nearly Sasuke's nap time and he refuses to fall asleep unless I sing the lullaby to him."_

_Swiveled around on the bench Kona asked, "The one I just played?"_

_Mikoto smiled. "That's the one."_

"_Funny, Sakura likes to hear it before she sleeps too."_

_Mikoto made a small noise that indicated that she had heard Kona speak but was uninterested in the subject._

_As the women made their final goodbyes, they failed to notice the small, blonde child lying beneath the open window. He had, once again, escaped his room in the Hokage Tower to fall asleep listening to the lullaby that he loved to imagine his lost mother singing to him._

It took a minute for the three shinobi to recover from the sudden transition of scenery when the flashback ended. Haruchi gave them a few moments to gather their thoughts and when their attention was back on her, she started clearing a few obvious things up.

"The three of you were just over two years old and already, you had something that connected you to each other."

"The lullaby." Sakura stated.

Haruchi nodded. "It's really not all that uncommon to have a connection of some sort at such a young age. Even your friends Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji were joined before they were born because of their fathers. But the connection between you three was particularily strong; stronger than most can be expected."

"Connection? But…" Sakura looked rather confused; her teammates were no better. "I don't understand. What does a lullaby have to do with us?"

Haruchi shrugged her shoulders. "The lullaby itself has no particular value. It was simply the beginning of you three and the relationship you would have with each other."

"Wait." Sasuke interjected. "We can't be sure if what you just showed us was another illusion. My mother never mentioned being friends with Kona Haruno; I never met or heard of Sakura before the Academy."

A sad, regretful smile was put on Haruchi's face. "Unfortunately, Mikoto Uchiha and Kona Haruno lost touch over the years. Mikoto got more involved with clan activities and Kona began conducting music of her own. Not to mention," Haruchi's smile became a little more playful, "they both had their hands full raising some very adventurous children."

Both Sasuke and Sakura became a little flustered at the mention of their rambunctious childhoods. Haruchi paid their embarrassment no mind and continued with her explanation.

"The three of you then officially met at the Ninja Academy. You were occasionally paired together for various exercises and there was the odd conversation between you. Years passed; after tragedies and developed feelings you three graduated and officially became Team 7.

You know the next bit: as a team you went on missions, protected each other, formed bonds with each other and your teacher, trained till you couldn't stand; _had fun_. And the more time you spent with each other, the stronger your connection grew."

"Haruchi," Sakura tried for a distraction. She knew that the next chapter involved Sasuke's departure and she didn't have any wish to relive that part of her life. "I still don't understand; why do you keep mentioning the 'connection' between Sasuke, Naruto and I?"

Haruchi cocked her head. "You mean you didn't notice?"

Team 7 formed expressions of confusion and looked at each other for a hint as to what Haruchi was talking about. Naruto was the one to ask, "Notice what?"

"The oddity of my name."

They still looked confused so Haruchi spelt it out for them. "You never thought it was weird that my name was Haruchi Maki and yours were _Haru_no, U_chi_ha, and Uzu_maki_?"

Three pairs of eyes widened.

"So…" Naruto stuttered, "What… What are you even saying? That your real name isn't Haruchi Maki? That you just… _copied_ our names to make one for yourself?"

"Mmm," Haruchi hummed, "more or less." Seeing that they all had something to say and not having the patience to listen to any of it, Haruchi continued. "The truth is, I don't really have a name at all. In fact," she paused; just for dramatic effect, "I'm not even human."

They all shouted at once ("What?! But -" "You've got to be shitting -!" "How is that even -" "- can't be possible!" "- I don't believe you!" "- stop messing with us!!") before deciding on one common question:

"What _are_ you then?!"

"I am your connection, your bond, and your friendship."

Silence met her answer. It was clear to her that they were having a hard time making sense of what she was saying. She thought that perhaps they needed more of an explanation.

"There are times – not as uncommon as you think – when the connections between people are so incredibly strong that the energy and strength of that connection becomes a physical, tangible being. This was the case with you three."

A small pause interrupted the conversation. Haruchi whistled to herself while she let the circumstance sink in. Naruto was the first to recover and speak.

"So then… does that mean that there are a bunch of people walking around that aren't actually… people??"

"Not necessarily. The connection doesn't always become a person, you see. We can become objects as well, like the piano in the case with Kona and Mikoto. Others have become trinkets, jewelry, phenomenons of nature, animals, objects of extreme sentimental value; some have even become jutsu techniques." Thoughts of a masked, aging, Sharingan wielder came to everyone's mind. As an afterthought, Haruchi added, "Actually, it's very rare for a connection to become a human. That only occurs in extreme situations. In fact, out of all of the relationships there have ever been in this world, I'm only the seventh one to ever become a person."

Making the connection immediately, Sakura asked, "Then why are you here? What kind of 'extreme situation' brought you here?"

"To understand my purpose here, you must first understand just how incredible your bonds with each other are."

Turning to the female of the group, Haruchi addressed Sakura, "Sakura, you know that your teammates would do anything to protect you – this has practically been the unwritten law concerning Team 7; protect Sakura at any cost – but you've never realized just what 'anything' entailed." Haruchi breathed and mentally saw all of the nameless faces. There were dozens of them. "There have been deaths for you Sakura; people who these two could have easily saved. Instead, you needed them and you were more important to them than the many faces that faded away throughout those failed missions. If necessary, I know for a _fact _that Sasuke would give his Sharingan away to keep you safe and Naruto would give away a thousand Hokage titles if it meant keeping you alive. There isn't _anything_ in this world that these two wouldn't do for you." Haruchi turned away from Sakura's tearing eyes and faced the quiet Uchiha.

"Sasuke, you don't even have the faintest clue as to the amount of sacrifices that your friends have made for you. It wasn't just blood, sweat and tears they put into their training. If they had ever given up on you, if they had dared to stop chasing, then things would be very different than they are now. Naruto's face would already be carved beside the Hokage Faces and preparing for an upcoming engagement; Sakura would be happily married to another man; and you, Sasuke Uchiha, would be dead and rotting in some ditch, long forgotten to the world. But your friends loved you so much that they put their futures on hold for you; so that you could have a place in their futures alongside them." Sasuke hid his expression and fisted his hands.

"Naruto, you would be surprised if you knew just how many people have ever rejected you for what they think you are. I'm sure you'd also be surprised if you knew how many of those people have expressed those opinions to both Sasuke and Sakura." Haruchi observed curiously as Naruto clenched his jaw and his fists. She smiled because of her next message, "But perhaps it wouldn't surprise you to know that they both defended you relentlessly." Haruchi smiled when the blonde looked up, surprised, "Even when you three were young it was a similar story. When you weren't accepted Naruto, neither were your friends. Sasuke and Sakura threw away a lot of opportunities to better themselves in the public eye and they never deserted you. Oh, there were times when they considered it. But in the end, your opinion of them held more value to them than those of – in the infamous words of Sasuke – 'cowards who trash-talked behind your back'."

Haruchi gave the team a moment to absorb the entirety of her point and then spoke again.

"My purpose for appearing here was simple. The friendship between you three was so immense and powerful that things started to happen. Good things. Winter temperatures weren't so cold anymore, birds sang more beautifully than ever before, food started to provide more energy, missions were successes more often than failures." Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all remembered thinking the very same words that Haruchi had just spoken. They had noticed those things as they happened.

Haruchi smiled at their inner confusion. "Those things happened because of your bonds. It wasn't just a coincidence, and you three weren't the only people who noticed the changes."

"Wait," Sakura put up her hand to interrupt Haruchi's monologue, "are you saying that those things happened because the three of us are friends?"

Haruchi shook her head and tried to make Sakura understand. "You three aren't just friends, Sakura. The term 'friends' isn't big enough to describe your relationship; in fact, describing you as three separate beings doesn't do it justice either. Yours is the kind of connection that creates a singular kind of perfection and the enormous energy that ebbs off of that, travels into everything around it. That is why good things happened; they were feeding off of your energy."

"I had no idea that we were so powerful…" Sakura breathed. She still had a hard time wrapping her brain around what Haruchi was telling them.

Haruchi nodded empathetically. "It is difficult to understand, but your connection is powerful; so powerful that it can easily bend the rules of reality."

The three shinobi looked at her in surprise. It seemed that with every story Haruchi told, the more incredible their bond was.

"So," Naruto started, drawing a conclusion, "is that how you caught us when we were falling? You fed off our energy?"

Haruchi nodded again. "More or less. Technically, I _am_ your energy so I don't exactly feed off it as much as I control it. But weeks ago, months ago, I wouldn't have been able to save you." Brows furrowed in confusion.

"What do you mean by that?" Sasuke asked.

"As your relationship grows stronger or weaker, so do I. Recently, the entity that had been charging everything with positive energy was waning; _your friendship was breaking apart_. I could feel it and I knew that I would be damned if I let something so extraordinary be destroyed.

So when Sakura traveled out on a minor solo mission, it was easy to cast a trick on her mind during the night and lure her into Earth while she thought she was en route to Sand. When she entered the cave, I caused a rock slide and was able to bruise her up enough so that she couldn't escape. My plan worked perfectly. Within a week, you two had already put your problems aside and were searching for any possible leads you could find. You know the story from there."

"But," Sakura asked, "why was our relationship breaking in the first place?"

"You know the answer to that." Haruchi sharply snapped. Seeing the Haruno flinch back from her tone, Haruchi put a hand in her hair, sighed, and closed her eyes. Handling her anger, Haruchi started talking again with a much calmer sense of mind.

"Three months ago, after the mission you three had concerning Princess Kazahana, you three started to drift apart." She opened her eyes and looked pointedly at Sasuke and Sakura. "Because of your… _explorations_, you two let awkwardness and fear fall between you and avoided all possible contact with each other for the next three months.

But in avoiding each other, you also avoided _Naruto_. You two didn't even tell him why you were so nervous; he had no idea why his best friends had suddenly stopped coming to training every Sunday or to the ramen stand each Tuesday and Thursday. He never understood what he had done to make you two – his most precious people – hate him so much."

Sakura gasped and looked at Naruto. His face was down and his eyes looked heartsick; as if he was visiting some very distressing memories. Tentatively, Sakura reached out a hand to her brother.

"Naruto? I… I'm sorry. I – We didn't know that you -"

"'S okay." The blond mumbled. Sakura wasn't convinced.

"No it's not." Sakura moved so that she had the blond wrapped in a light embrace. "We didn't hate you Naruto, we've never hated you."

"Yeah well," Naruto_ tried_ to laugh, "you could've fooled me." Sakura tried very hard not to cry. "I mean, what was I supposed to think? My best friends just suddenly stopped talking to me for three months. You guys never came to training or Ichiraku anymore and when I tried to see either of you, you were always busy at the hospital or away on a mission and I just figured," Sakura felt her heart break when Naruto's voice cracked, "that you two had finally jumped on the 'We Hate the Nine-Tails Boy' bandwagon."

"Oh, Naruto…" Sakura let out a couple of tears, squeezed the blond tight and pulled back to look him in the eyes, "I've never hated you, I won't ever hate you, and I'm so, _so_ sorry for ever letting you think that I did." She smiled at him, trying to show him exactly how sincere she was at this moment. "Forgive me?"

Naruto smiled back and laughed his true laugh then. "'Course I forgive you Sakura! I've never hated you either!"

Sakura widened her smile in relief. She felt her heart warm like it hadn't in months and only now did she realize just how much she had missed out on these past few months – how much she had pushed away.

"The teme on the other hand…" Naruto continued while looking back to face Sasuke who had turned away to give some privacy to the 'moment' between his friends. He faced the pair when he heard himself be brought into the conversation. Seeing the pointed look that Naruto was giving him Sasuke scoffed and turned his head away again. No way in hell was he apologizing to the moron.

"Che." Naruto scoffed back mockingly. Huffing, he turned back to Sakura to complain. "That is _so _like the teme. Too damn proud and ego-freakin-tistical to spare his best friend two little words of comfort. Honestly, sometimes I wonder just how far up that stick is because -"

A punch to the blonde's head prevented him from saying anything further. Nearly falling forward into Sakura's lap, Naruto managed to catch his balance and spun around to face Sasuke with fire in his eyes.

"GO TO HELL, JERK!! JUST BECAUSE I'M TALKIN ABOUT YOU IN FRONT OF SAKURA, YOU HAVE TO GO AND ACT ALL TOUGH AND MACHO AND Y'KNOW WHAT?! IT DOESN'T WORK!! NO, IT DOES NOT!! BECAUSE SAKURA HAS _WAY_ MORE CLASS THAN YOU'LL EVER HAVE ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU WON'T EVEN APOLOGIZE FOR TREATING ME LIKE CRAP FOR THE PAST THREE MONTHS!! SERIOUSLY SASUKE, FORGET YOUR ISSUES AND GET A LIFE ALREADY! OR AT LEAST A DECENT PERSONALITY! BETTER YET, WHY DON'T YOU -"

Another punch to the head saved them all from severe damage to their ear drums.

"Oh, well done _Sasuke_." Naruto spat while nursing his sore head. "Way to convince me that you don't hate me."

Sasuke sighed, "You really are an idiot, Naruto."

Silence made another intrusion. Naruto used that time to effectively pull out his mental 'Translation: Sasuke into Normal English' dictionary. Search: You really are an idiot, Naruto. Result: You're truly an idiot if you thought that I ever hated you and because you weren't smart enough to figure that out, I'm not gonna bother wasting my breath to tell you that I'm sorry (even though I am).

Blinking incredulously, Naruto dropped his head in shame. When it came to best friends, he sure knew how to pick 'em. "You know that if I was anyone else, I would've taken offense to that statement, right?"

"Hn." Sasuke grunted but Naruto could hear the haughty smile in his tone. Sasuke knew he had gotten the message. Bastard.

"You're an ass."

"You're a moron."

"No, I meant that… you really are an ass."

"And you're stuck with me. Lucky you." Sasuke held out a fist. It was another silent message.

The grin that plastered itself on Naruto's face put even the Cheshire's to shame. Naruto received the message loud and clear.

Holding out his fist to bump it against Sasuke's, Naruto said, "Yeah, lucky me."

Sasuke couldn't help the smirk that crossed his face. He didn't realize how good making up with his best friend could feel. Just another moment where he realized how extremely fortunate he was to have Naruto and Sakura in his life. Sasuke made a promise to himself then; never again would he push those two away. No matter how loud they shouted, or how annoying they got, or how idiotic their ideas were, or how much they made him… _feel_, they were worth it in the end.

A bright glow momentarily blinded the team and they were forced to shield their eyes until the shine dimmed to a non-damaging level. Looking towards the glow, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were surprised to see Haruchi floating and cloaked in a sheet of light. She looked unreal and she looked euphoric. She was smiling.

She looked down to see the faces of the stunned team and laughed beautifully.

"There's no need to be so alarmed." She reassured, "I've just grown stronger than I've ever been before!"

It was when her image started to fade from sight that Sakura started to panic. Despite anything that Haruchi had done, she had been a true friend to the pinkette when they were stuck in the cave. Sakura didn't want to lose what she had created with Haruchi during those few days.

She stepped forward and called out, "Wait Haruchi! Why are you fading away? What's happening to you?"

Lowering herself so that she stood in front of Sakura, Haruchi smiled and placed her hands on the kunoichi's shoulders. "I'm no longer needed as a human Sakura. You and your boys have reconnected and you've strengthened your bonds to the point where Haruchi Maki isn't necessary anymore. I'm not disappearing Sakura." She moved a finger to wipe away the tear that fell down Sakura's face and beamed a closed eye smile. "This isn't goodbye; I'll be around when any of you are most in need of me. This, I can promise."

Sakura smiled through the choked feeling she had in her throat. She almost jumped when she felt two different hands replace Haruchi's on her shoulders. Sakura looked back to see both her teammates behind her, supporting her. Sakura noticed that Haruchi's light glowed even brighter at the gesture and slowly, she smiled, stepped away from Haruchi and backed into her two favorite people in the world.

"Thank you, Haruchi." Sakura choked out.

Haruchi laughed, "It was my pleasure, Sakura. But as fun as this has been, I think Konoha's been without you long enough." Raising a hand towards the united team, Haruchi uttered a single word, "Emoh."

The light that donned Haruchi shone blindingly and extended to encircle Team 7 and then the whole ravine. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto covered their eyes in an attempt to save their retinas but couldn't help drowning the feeling of completeness that the light gave them. It was then that all three of them knew; it was the end of _them _as Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki. They were no longer separate; _they _were now Haruchi Maki, and everything that she represented. When the light receded, and they opened their eyes, they were welcomed with the sight of Konoha's gates.

They were finally home.

**Current Status: **Etelpmoc (Complete)


	7. The Perfect Conclusion

**Author's Note: **Wow. I finally finished it. Hell, I actually finished a story! Which is actually quite rare on my part. I haven't actually completed a story since Grade 6 so I'm feeling rather proud of myself right now. :) Anyway, so sorry that you out there who had to wait such a long time for the grande finale but it's here now! I'm not gonna spend too much time chatting cuz I'm not sure people read this anyway and I'm sure the story is the only thing that matters. So! The only thing I'm iffy about with this epilogue of mine, is the fluff. See, I'm such an amateur when it comes to writing romance. Seriously, it's not even funny. So I hope that I at least pulled off something decent for someone to enjoy. And on that note, read on! And thank you for reading!

**Dedication: **Goes out to my 'club' (which, I did make a banner for! You can find the link to it on my profile page). But a special dedication goes to Sakura's Indecision for not only reviewing every chapter but for inspiring me each and every time she reviewed. So great was her inspiration that I named a chapter after her (that was number 5: Sakura's Decision). So here's to you Sakura's Indecision! Thank you for being my Inspiration! C:

**Disclaimer: **I don't own a thing really. Except for any original characters. Which include more than I thought. O.o

* * *

**Chapter Seven: The Perfect Conclusion**

**Name: Sasuke (Chi) Uchiha**

Sasuke would tell you that it was almost freaky how easily the three of them fell back into routine after their return.

As they had leaned on each other, ever-so-slowly limping towards their village gates, they were spotted by the guards who had wasted no time in alerting Tsunade of their appearance. With the utmost care, they were escorted to the hospital and received immediate medical attention, despite the lack of worrisome injuries. As soon as Shizune was satisfied with their state of health, Tsunade had marched up to the team and demanded a report on the mission's happenings. Luckily, they had anticipated Tsunade's curiosity and – wishing to keep the story of Haruchi Maki only between them – had come up with a sufficient cover-story for Sakura's disappearance as well as Sasuke and Naruto's over-due absence. Tsunade had been unsatisfied with their answers to her interrogations but knew by the look on their faces that she wasn't going to smuggle the truth from any of them. Whatever had happened to them during the past few weeks was obviously not hers to know.

The next day, they had been released from the hospital, after which Tsunade had given them a full week of respite to rest, relax, and train. They immediately headed for Ichiraku's ramen stand for a long-awaited lunch of noodles, banters, and casual chat. They had gotten their blood pumping after that with a long-over-due training session and it had never felt so good to be bruised, sweaty, and exhausted.

"Hold on a minute." Naruto started. Team 7 was currently enjoying their weekly get-together-lunch of Ichiraku ramen. The only thing wrong with the picture perfect scene was the fact that Naruto was talking without noodles in his mouth. This fact was enough for Sasuke and Sakura to really pay attention to what their friend was saying.

"Haruchi said that you guys had been 'exploring' before you avoided each other like the plague; what'd she mean by that?"

Sakura flushed a little and fiddled with her chopsticks while Sasuke grunted before turning back to his lunch.

"Aw, come on guys!" Naruto whined, "It's not fair if you leave me out of it!"

"There's nothing to let you in on." Sasuke retorted. _'Nothing yet anyway.' _He thought while glancing Sakura's way.

"Psh, yeah, okay." Naruto grumbled as he played with his ramen noodles. He was clearly unsatisfied.

"Really, Naruto, there's nothing for us to tell. You're making a big deal out of absolutely nothing." Sakura tried to calm the agitated blonde. Sasuke eyed Sakura curiously. She seriously thought that what they did was nothing?

"Humph." Naruto pouted as he crossed his arms. "I'm not stupid, Sakura. I know that _something _had to have happened."

"Yeah, well, nothing did."

"Oh, so you two just _decided_ to have a mutual freak-out and never see each other again?"

"_No,_" Sakura hissed, praying for patience and hoping that Naruto would just drop the subject, "we just had a disagreement Naruto. But we're over it now so there's nothing for you to worry about."

Sasuke raised a brow. They were over it? They hadn't even mentioned_ it_ ever since it happened. Whatever they had done with it, the issue wasn't 'gotten over'; it was just lying unresolved; an elephant in the room that they refused to acknowledge, or at least Sakura refused to. Since Haruchi, Sasuke noticed that Sakura hadn't really been keen to talk about anything much. Not anything in the past anyway. She was more than happy to have her boys back and to talk about recent missions, or lecture them about their current health, or share funny stories of yesterday but she was reluctant to talk about the mission to the Land of Snow.

"You sure about that Sakura?" Naruto pushed.

"_Yes, Naruto. I'm sure._" Sakura seethed. "Just drop it."

"Okay, okay. I don't know why you're so uptight about it Sakura. I'm just making sure that you guys aren't gonna break up again cause -"

Slamming her hands on the counter and standing from her stool, Sakura shouted, "I told you to drop it!!"

Naruto was silenced and Sasuke no longer tried to hide his curious gaze. Both males openly stared at the pinkette as she huffed out a breath, lay down a few bills, and stormed out of the stand.

Looking at each other, Naruto asked, "Do you wanna go after her or should I?"

Sasuke sighed. He supposed that if he wanted to straighten things out, he would have to approach Sakura himself. Besides, her mood swings – and the tension that fell between them whenever they were alone – were getting annoying.

Scooting out of his stool, Sasuke replied, "I'll go. But finish my ramen for me will you?" He didn't want the dobe interrupting any type of resolution that he could reach with Sakura. Ramen would probably be the best distraction for the blonde.

"No problem. Just don't make things worse."

"Hn."

Walking in the direction Sakura had headed off in, Sasuke couldn't keep the smirk off his face when he distantly heard, "_Hey! Teme didn't pay his way!_"

**Current Status: Wanting Happiness**

* * *

**Name: Sakura (Haru) Haruno**

"Frickin… and the very nerve of him… asking stupid questions… gonna kill him one day…" were only some of the words that passersby were able to make out of Sakura Haruno's grumblings. They never stayed long enough to hear more; the pinkette appeared to be in a most foul mood.

Sakura had made herself a comfortable seat on the stone bench nearest the Konoha gates. While the scenery didn't provide too many happy memories, it was the perfect spot for her to perch, grumble and complain. It was a quiet area, with the natural sounds of a few people passing by here and there; and the upsetting memories only allowed Sakura to wallow in her anger. Here, she could stay frustrated and vent for as long as she wished, without any happy thoughts to disturb her. And after Naruto's annoying prodding, she definitely did _not_ want to be disturbed. Especially not by her tea-

"There's no reason to be so upset."

Damn it. Of _course_ he would seek her out now.

"It's irrational. Nothing's changed because of it."

"Really?" she snapped, "Because for a while, everything seemed to change."

Sasuke kept silent after that. Looking up at him suspiciously, Sakura rolled her eyes and shifted to make room for him on the bench. Wordlessly, he sat down and rested his elbows on his knees; she proceeded to cross her arms and slouch back to look at the sky.

'_Funny_,' she thought, '_I can see birds flying overhead but I haven't been hearing them chirp… not for the longest time…_' Flashing back, Sakura recalled that Haruchi had said something about Team 7's relationship affecting the song of birds. But why weren't they singing now?

"You can't ignore me forever, Sakura."

Being snapped back to the current situation, Sakura scoffed and replied, "Sure I can."

"You tried it once already and it didn't work."

"For three months, it did." She argued.

"Three months isn't forever, Sakura."

"Well what the hell do you want me to do?" she questioned while looking at him. She was startled for a moment to see that he had been staring at her the entire time.

"Talk."

Sakura glared. "That's it?"

Sasuke sighed at put a hand to his hair. "Unless talking doesn't solve it."

"So now kissing me is a _problem_ that you need to _solve_?"

"You _know_ that's not what I meant." Sakura shrunk into herself. She knew. But she just wanted to be angry right now; why couldn't Sasuke see that?

"Listen Sakura, those three months of avoidance were bad enough but I'm tired of putting up with the tense air between us. Every time you talk to me, you treat it as if you're treading on eggshells and I've had enough of it; so whatever we need to do to… clear the air, we're going to figure it out right now."

Sakura stayed quiet for a while longer. She had stared aimlessly ahead throughout Sasuke's speech and now she was reflecting on it. He admitted that those three months had been hell, and she had to agree with him. It had been hard getting through those days with the sudden absence of her greatest friends and she never wanted to live through that experience again. But kissing Sasuke… it wasn't something that she could just cast aside, could just forget about. And that was what he wanted wasn't it? To forget that it had ever happened in the first place? Sakura rubbed her arms as if she were cold; she would never forget… no matter how long or how much they talked about it.

"…You're right." She still wouldn't look at him. Sasuke used that to his advantage. "I'm… I'm tired of the tension too. I've just been… I've been too busy being angry…"

"What about?" Still wasn't looking…

"You really need to ask that?"

"Tell me anyway."

"…" Sakura took a breath, faced toward Sasuke only to gasp at the feeling of his lips on hers again. For a moment, Sakura felt her widened eyes start to close and her body start to relax into his simple embrace. But then she startled herself back into reality.

Pulling away from Sasuke and jumping off the bench, she looked at him fearfully with a hand to her lips and tears in her eyes. And then she turned around and briskly walked towards her home. Sasuke cursed and followed her.

"Sakura!" he called. She responded by quickening her pace. He mimicked her. But then she started running.

"Damn it, Sakura! Stop running away from me!"

But she wouldn't stop; she couldn't stop. Tears were falling down her face and she kept her mouth covered at all costs while her tired legs fed off of the adrenaline pumping through her. Green eyes open and watching for any obstacles, Sakura couldn't hear any noise over her own thoughts.

'_No, no, no, no, no_.'

"Sakura!" 

'_Absolutely not._'

"Damn it, Sakura!"

'_There's just no way._'

"Stop running away from me!"

'_I have to. I'll go insane if I stop_.'

"It didn't mean anything Sakura."

'_He said it didn't matter. He said he didn't care!_'

"It was to distract you."

'_He never wanted to! __**I**__ never wanted to! Not like this!'_

"Sakura!!" She heard him bellow. He was still behind her, still chasing her. Why the hell was he chasing her? Almost crying with relief, Sakura realized that she was in front of her apartment building. Making haste, she wasted no time in running up to her floor; she needed the sanctuary of her home right now. Fumbling with her key, Sakura panicked but managed to slam the door before Sasuke could follow her through. Bolting the door, Sakura leaned against the barrier between her and him, letting it support her exhausted form, and listened to Sasuke curse and hit the door. Running her chakra through it, she made sure that Sasuke would never open it by force.

Once silence was all she heard from the other side, Sakura breathed in relief before muscular arms trapped her to an equally muscular body. Screaming and thrashing around, Sakura felt a breeze from her now-open window and cursed herself for forgetting about it.

"Damn it, Sakura, calm down!" She could only screech again in response. She was not in a stable state of mind. She was vaguely aware that Sasuke trapped her arms with his own and was sitting down against the door to trap her legs with his as well. Knowing she was caught, Sakura could only let go and sobbed into his shoulder as he tried to soothe her. After her body had collapsed limply, he felt it safe to stroke her hair and whisper assurances in her ear. She only cried and clung to him like a lifeline.

Some time later, when the sun was dyeing the sky in colours of orange and red, Sakura was left tearless, staring straight ahead with blank and empty eyes. Sasuke had long ago buried his face in her hair and was trying to instill feelings of peace and calm in her through osmosis. It had appeared to help when he had first rested his head to hers, and he was grateful she was calming down. He hadn't moved since.

"Why did you chase me?"

She felt him shift his face to look in her eyes but she made no movement to meet his gaze. She had gone from angry to ashamed to panic in a short time and was drained of most energy. Sasuke too, she felt, was emotionally exhausted with keeping up with her and then calming her.

"Why didn't you just let me go?"

Nuzzling back into her hair, Sasuke replied, "Because I let you go once before and it didn't end well."

"Chasing me hasn't ended well either."

"Actually, it turned out better than I expected."

"Must be your lucky day."

A small silence overtook the pair. Sakura kept her empty gaze on her wall as she watched it turn from red to black. The sun had set, and still Sakura had yet to hear a bird chirp.

Sasuke broke the silence. "I know what I want, Sakura," he breathed deeply into her hair before speaking again, "I want you."

She didn't respond. So he retreated from her hair to kiss her forehead. "I want to be with you." He kissed her cheek. "I want to see you smile again." He kissed her jaw. "I want there to be an 'us'." Hesitantly, he kissed her lips briefly. Sakura frowned and closed her eyes to resurfacing tears. So he kissed her eyelids too. "I want you to want to be with me."

Finally, Sakura shifted in his arms to look up at him. Her cheeks were wet with fresh tears and the light of the moon made them sparkle and Sasuke couldn't help but feel cheated. He had always read that beautiful girls were always beautiful whether they were crying or smiling. But Sakura, – looking up at him with forlorn green eyes, rivers down her face and mucus running from her nose – she looked repulsive. Sasuke swore then and there to always do his best to keep her smiling – to keep her beautiful – because he wasn't sure if his heartstrings could take any more pain from seeing her look so pitiful.

Cut out from his thoughts when a hand cupped his cheek, Sasuke refocused his attention on the woman in his arms. She was smiling and suddenly, she was beautiful.

"I've always wanted that." Smiling back at her, Sasuke dipped his head down to kiss her again and this time, she kissed back.

The next morning, when Sakura would stretch out under her bed sheets, she would discover Sasuke's arms still around her and she would smile as her heart sang in tune with the chirping birds outside her window.

**Current Status: Obtaining Happiness**

* * *

**16 Months Later**

**Name: Naruto (Maki) Uzumaki**

Naruto should have known that kissing Hinata on their date would lead to making out under the stars. He should have known that Sakura would pick a time when he was making out with Hinata to go into labour. And he _definitely _should have known that she would send Ino to fetch him for the birth of the first Uchiha since Sasuke. And yet…

"Naruto Uzumaki! Stop sucking face with Hinata and get your butt over to the hospital! Your godchild is being born!"

Hinata had been embarrassed to get caught by a friend but Naruto was too excited to give her time to fight off her blush. Letting out a whoop, Naruto pulled Hinata with him as he followed Ino to the hospital.

It had been about ten months since his teammates had said the 'I do's and life could not have been better. Just like before they had separated, everyone noticed things: birds were singing more beautifully than ever before, there seemed to be an abundance of good weather, mission success rates rose, and every person in the village just seemed to be in a good mood almost every day. Naruto had been positive that it was the work of Haruchi. Of course, when Sakura and Sasuke had approached him to tell him that they were officially going steady, Naruto had felt like a third wheel at times when the three of them would get together. It was then that Naruto turned to Hinata for company and, after hanging out with her for a few weeks, asked her out once or twice. Naruto was extremely pleased with the results and had asked Hinata to go steady only recently. He had been elated when she said yes although, not completely surprised. For reasons he couldn't completely fathom, once he started hanging out with her, he realized she pretty smitten with him.

"Hurry up, you dumb blonde!" Ino called out to him. Naruto only realized now that they were inside the hospital and Ino was racing up the stairs, looking at him to follow.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" he called back and picked up his pace again, Hinata still running behind him.

Once on the fourth floor, Naruto bypassed Ino and zeroed in on the two chakra signatures that he could trace in his sleep. Calling a quick "Stay out here with Hinata!" to Ino, Naruto burst through a door to reveal his two teammates and exclaimed, "I'm here! I'm here! Did I miss anything? Am I too late? Is it a boy or a girl? What happened?"

Rolling her eyes affectionately, Sakura motioned for him to come closer while reassuring him, "No, Naruto you haven't missed a thing!"

"Well good. Because I put 'Making-Out-With-Hinata-Time' on hold for this." He said while moving to Sakura's bedside.

"You wanted to be here, dobe."

"Yeah, and you wanted me here too! So shut up, teme!"

Sakura gave a sharp wince. Whether it was from Naruto's booming voice or another contraction, Sasuke couldn't tell. "Naruto, Sasuke, I am about to have a baby here. Could you two find a different time to argue?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly and Sasuke ran his thumb across her knuckles of the hand he was holding. Smiling at them both, Sakura jumped up from lying on the bed and let out a gasp of pain. Both men were immediately holding her shoulders and asking if she was alright.

Gasping and trying very hard to concentrate on breathing, Sakura replied, "I'm fine… It was just another contraction; it's a good thing – ah!" She gasped again and shut her eyes to the pain. "Sorry boys. This is gonna be painful to watch."

A few hours later

"I don't think I believe it." Naruto said.

"I know…" Sakura agreed.

"…" Sasuke was too surprised to say anything about the tiny bundle wrapped in his wife's arms.

"Uh… I'm not the only one who sees this right?" The blonde asked while pointing at the green tuft of hair atop the bundle's head.

Sakura nodded in confirmation. "No, I see it too Naruto."

"The eyes too?"

Staring into coal black eyes in amazement, Sakura only nodded again.

"So, you think she had something to do with it?" Naruto asked while looking for Sasuke's opinion.

Sasuke was still a bit too surprised to say anything more than, "Don't look at _me_, dobe."

"I was just asking!" Naruto defended.

"Oh, give it a rest Naruto." Sakura gazed lovingly at the person who would become another precious someone to her. She could hardly believe it. A daughter. Sakura Uchiha had given birth to a healthy, beautiful, wonderful daughter. Holding her child close to her, Sakura let a tear slip and continued, "Either way, she's a miracle."

Silently accepting this as an answer, Naruto looked at the little baby again. He couldn't believe that they hadn't _known_. How had this little treasure been growing for nine full months without any of them realizing that she… Naruto shook his head with a grin on his face. Sakura had worded it wonderfully; this little girl _was_, if nothing else, a miracle.

**Current Status: Sharing Happiness**

* * *

**7 Years Later**

**Name: I bet you can guess…**

"Gotcha!" the girl cried out as she pounced. Successfully capturing her raven-haired target, the girl quickly recovered from her fall and ran off in the opposite direction.

"Hey, get back here sis!" called the small, six-year old boy.

Not daring to slow her pace but unable to resist a taunt, the boy's older sister looked back and stuck out her tongue.

"Can't catch me if you're slow, Masa!"

"I told you to stop calling me that!"

"Masa can't catch me! Masa can't catch me!" the girl sang.

"Can't he?" a new voice asked. Startled, the girl squealed in surprise as two strong hands picked her up off the grass of the family's backyard.

"Daaaad!" she complained. "That's not fair! Let me go! Masa's gonna catch up!"

"Too late!" and suddenly, Sasuke Uchiha had both his young children in his arms, one laughing with triumph, the other complaining loudly that she had been cheated. Sasuke couldn't help the smile that adorned his face. It amazed him how easy it was to love his children.

Now fed up with her brother and father, Sasuke's eldest child began to struggle and squirm, trying to escape the hold he had on her. Laughing now, Sasuke tightened his grip and – following the lead of his son – poked at her ticklish sides, making her escape a very difficult task. But his daughter wasn't one to give up and so, struggling and squealing, she brought out her greatest weapon:

"Mooom!! Dad and Masaru are ganging up on mee!!"

"Is that so?" Sakura asked from her seat on the mini porch. In her arms lay a third child, fast asleep with a tuft of pink hair atop her little head. Sakura took a small amount of pride in the fact that, while Sasuke may be the favourite of the other two, precious little Kona Mikoto Uchiha always seemed to favour her mother.

"Hey!" her brother complained as he ceased his tickling assault, "You can't call in Mom to help you!"

"Can too! You got help from Dad!" the girl yelled back.

"But I didn't ask him to!"

"Doesn't matter, you still cheated!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too, cheater!"

"I am _not_ a cheater!"

Rolling his eyes amusedly, Sasuke set the children down saying, "Alright, settle down you two."

Sakura laughed when they turned in sync and gazed up at Sasuke with their biggest puppy eyes and cried, "But Dad!!" It was obvious that they were both attempting to get their father on their side.

A little hand reaching for Sakura's hair captured her attention and she looked down into her arms to see a pair beautiful black eyes. Sakura almost sighed in disappointment. All of their children had inherited Sasuke's eyes. It was obvious that black was the dominant gene. Although, Kona _did_ manage to receive her mother's hair… Maybe there was hope for Sakura's recessive genes yet.

Growing bored with Sakura's hair, Kona started to look around elsewhere for entertainment. Seeing that the year old infant was starting to become a little restless, Sakura called her other children over.

Quickly forgetting their argument to obey their mother, both kids ran up to the porch and asked, "What is it Mommy?"

Smiling, Sakura asked, "Could you please run up to Kona's room and grab some of her toys? I think she wants to play now."

Nodding eagerly, both kids took off their shoes before entering the house. Of course, Masaru then declared, "Race ya!" and took off without giving his sister another warning. The young girl of seven sprinted after him, calling him a cheater once again.

Shaking her head at her energetic children, Sakura couldn't help but remember the flashback that Haruchi had shown them those many years ago, and the adventures that she and Sasuke had embarked upon in their early childhoods. She wondered what sort of adventures her own children would take…

"What are you thinking?" In her musing Sakura hadn't noticed that Sasuke had made his way to sit with her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his head on her shoulder.

Humming in contentment, Sakura leaned back into his embrace and closed her eyes. "Just how similar we were when we were that age."

"Want to know what I'm thinking?" he murmured, brushing his lips along her neck.

Smiling, Sakura teased, "That you're holding the most perfect woman in the universe?"

Laughing, Sasuke pressed a firm kiss to her pulse. "That, and I still think it's a boy." He confessed while gently rubbing his wife's pregnant bump. She was six months along already. Sakura didn't honestly care which gender it was but she did secretly hope that their fourth child would inherit her eyes. As beautiful as her family's eyes were, she got tired of seeing green only in the mirror.

"What makes you think it's a boy again?" She always liked to hear what he had to say, especially since he had predicted correctly on their past three kids.

"Nothing except pure and honest hope. I don't think I could handle another girl."

"What's wrong with the two we already have?" Sakura asked, becoming slightly defensive.

"They both drive me crazy."

"And Masaru doesn't?"

"Masaru's different."

"Because he's your son." She scoffed.

"Because he's my _only_ son." He corrected.

"And you'd like another one." She drawled.

"Or two." Smirking, Sasuke moved his mouth to her ear and whispered, "Or three if you're up to it."

"Sasuke Uchiha!" Laughing, Sasuke was sure he would have been smacked if Sakura hadn't had her hands full with Kona.

Luckily, their kids had picked that moment to descend the stairs with their arms full of toys and stuffed animals. "We're back!"

Sasuke immediately engaged them in a game with Kona and the happy family spent the rest of the afternoon there on the porch.

**Later On…**

"Say you're sorry to your sister."

"No."

"Masaru."

"No!"

"Masaru Yosou Uchiha."

"Ah-ha-ha! Masa got middle-named!"

"Haruchi Maki Uchiha."

"Sorry, Mom."

**Current Status: Living in Happiness**

**The End**


End file.
